RWBY: The Onimusha Quest
by BlueAtomicRose
Summary: When a seemingly usual day suddenly gets interrupted by a world warp in the Beacon Academy, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake are forced to embark a journey to defeat the evil lord Nobunaga Oda. With the help of new allies and an ancient power born in the bloodline of Oni, the RWBY Onimusha must face an enemy even worse than the Grimm.
1. Chapter 1

In 1560, Lord Nobunaga Oda defeated Yoshimoto Imagawa in Okehazama…

Soon after his victory, Nobunaga fell to a fatal arrow, which pierced his throat. However, Nobunaga was far from finished. With the help of the demons, he rose from the dead. With his tyrannical evil restored, the demons began their rampage, slaughtering innocent people. Then a young warrior, Samanosuke Akechi, stood up and defeated the demon king.

The nightmare, however, did not end. A few years later, his strength restored, Nobunaga was set to conquer the entire country.

Prologue: Yagyu Village

Silence fills the lone forest of the Japanese lands. Through the sunlight scenery and the quiet and innocent village from afar, even the sounds of working villagers and playing children from afar is too silent to break the ominous hissing that silence itself could reveal. The hissing coming from a serpent slithering about in search of prey. With the slowly falling sun shining on its dark green scales, its orange, keen eye catches a glimpse of a shadow of a man kneeling before it. It hisses a warning as it moves to a defensive stance, only to flare its tongue in curiosity when the man reaches his gauntlet hand, offering it. As if summoned by this man, the venomous snake slithers around his hand as it travels up his arm.

For this man, as powerful as his overlord outfit would show, is the new demon lord Nobunaga Oda. The demon lord stands, his grand black armor and his long dark cape bear his Oda banner; a symbol of his intentions of uniting Japan under his rule. And with the help of his new allies, who see his cruel ambition useful them their own campaign to rule amongst humans, Nobunaga will finally have that plan become a reality. He mounts on his armored horse as he stares down at the Yagyu village from a hilltop covered with trees. From his shogun hairstyle, to his thin mustache and beard, he looks human. However, from the red marks above his eyebrows to his red-orange eyes, he is more demon than a man. And with a grin across his lips, he makes his next step of conquering Japan.

In the peaceful village of Yagyu, villagers live peacefully as they continue their daily deeds before nightfall. Men work in their farming jobs, a few pulling carts and using hoes in the dirt. Some women harvesting crops and others caring for the young. Even children run around town playing. Sitting on a bench near one wooden, self-made house, a village woman holds a baby as she wags a instrument and making the baby laugh happily. Suddenly, the baby sees something from afar, getting the woman to turn her head to the sky.

As if on cue, a fiery arrow shots down into the hay-made roof, causing it to burst into flames. The woman holding the baby runs from the bench, avoiding the house's fate of being burned to the ground. Where one arrow came from, a rain of multiple arrows follow shortly. A few villagers are shot down and fall to the ground, scorching and dead. As the houses catch on fire, one villager tries to run, only to be ran over by a group of horses mounted by soldiers wearing shiny, black samurai armor. Clad in the black color and the banner of the Oda clan, one soldier wields a bladed staff as he stabs it into the back of one villager. And, with the horse still going, the soldier laughs as he uses the spear to drag the screaming man across the dirt. In the rush of the slaughtering, one soldier knocks one villager to the ground, but this villager was not just some innocent farmer. Trained in the bladed arts, the man waits for the soldier to turn back as he pulls his hoe apart to reveal chains. The soldier charges his horse to the man's direction, but the villager swings his chained tool to knock the soldier to the ground. On the dirt, the soldier didn't have a chance to fight as the villager wraps his neck in chains. The villager pulls to suffocate the soldier, but he is soon shot in the back by another fiery arrow. From a few feet away, the soldier wielding his bow and arrows grins in his own sinister satisfaction as he pulls back an arrow and fire it at the door of another house. Before the arrow could burn the door, another trained villager cuts the arrow in half with one of his one-handed scythes. The older, frail man demonstrates his learned skill as he joins the scythes together and throws the weapon into the back of another soldier. On his horse, the soldier stumps forward as the blade cuts into his back. The old man smiles in confidence, but that confidence was short-lived when the soldier sits back up. This soldier, along with the others, has proven to the villagers that he is not just any soldier. With his eyes changing to demonic, and his mouth opening to reveal a long, purple tongue, he uses that tongue to reach behind him, grab the weapon, and throws it back at the old man. And with the surprising ferocity, the old man is swept off his feet and hanged against the door; by one of the scythes keeping his neck in place. However, the old man now faces a worse death when he is repeatedly fired by fiery arrows. And soon, his frail and wrinkled body burns.

A villager screams in agony as he is dragged across the dirt by a rope stringed up by a soldier and horse. And the same woman with the baby cries out for help, only to find none as she is soon killed by the spear of a soldier if not the hooves of a horse. As the slaughter and the burning of the village continues on, men and women become killed by the weapons of war and the hooves of horses. A woman cries out for her dead husband as she, too, was killed. For a soldier was there to hear her cries before piercing her back.

The slaughtering did not last very long. Riding his horse casually through the ashes and cinders, Nobunaga observes the burning village and dying innocents as his army follow with him. Nobunaga's dark and cold eyes glare in satisfaction as they leave the town behind to burn under the redden moon. This is just the beginning of the death and darkness that will spread across Japan. And soon, the world.

What Nobunaga also leaves behind, is the same instrument being played by the serpent before being crushed by its strong, constricting form.

* * *

The death is devastating, and the scenery is unbearable, but unknown by the demon lord, a mysterious force has called forth to a force from another world to stop his reign. A bloodline of Oni; ancient warrior and slayer of demons. An Onimusha.

Little did this mysterious force would know, that this "Onimusha" would be in the form of four heroic warriors. The four willing to give their best to save their own world. Today… their new and unexpected tale begins.

* * *

This is PsychoReptile here! And, from the writer that brings you Five Nights at Goji's, Godzilla vs Pumpkinhead and Godzilla's War comes my newest series called RWBY: The Onimusha Quest! Now, obviously, there are people that know RWBY and who I'm thinking of bringing in this "Onimusha world". If not, good god, what are you doing with your life!? (laughs)

Seriously, though, if there's some of you who has never heard of Onimusha… I don't blame you. Onimusha is basically an old Japanese video game franchise that CAPCOM use to do in the early 2000's. Basically a lone warrior gaining an unmatchable power and gains magical weapons to defeat these monsters that people called "demons". They're not technically demons, just monster coming from an underworld wanting to rule amongst humans.

So, anyway, I thought I had to publish this story as a lone category, but there's a category for Onimusha, apparently! (laughs) So, yes, this is a crossover!

But, I shouldn't spoil too much of the story. The story awaits in the near future and others. So, thank you for reading this prologue! Please follow us soon and please leave a review, and as always, this is PsychoReptile signing off!


	2. Chapter One: The Beacon of Hope

Chapter One: The Beacon of Hope

Large fields of darkness and silence fills the surroundings of a single figure as far as the eye could see. Endless city blocks full of fresh remains of human bodies are what covers the ground. Huge ribs make up the frame of a large walkway; in which the figure stands. The darkened moon in the sky shines a light to reveal the figure's unnatural form. A young girl, with her usual cloak and clothing changed completely in what is so ancient and magical, stands between this larger threat that now casts its shadow upon her and the rest of humanity of their own time and world. Her eyes remain closed as her short, fiery white hair could not even be blown back by the air pushed by a massive golden foot smashing into the flesh-made earth. The elephant-like leg stomps forward, and the girl's right hand burns harmlessly with reddish-white magic. And her glowing eyes suddenly open, glaring up at the enemy so eager to die. And she runs to face the enemy head-on…

"Ruby." A voice calls in the girl's sleep.

This young girl wakes up to someone gently shaking her shoulder. Her silver eyes opening to a darkness made by her black sleeping mask, with red eyes reminiscent of the Beowolfs, covering them. She sits up on her bed, wearing her usual black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and white long pants with pink roses as decoration, as she removes the mask from her eyes. The first thing the sunlight would show her is the hand-made bunker beds that stand a few feet away from each other in her and Team RWBY's dorm room. And then, Ruby Rose smiles tiredly when she sees her sister.

Yang Xiao Long. Ruby's big half-sister who came to Beacon Academy with her. Her lilac eyes and her playful smile are what greet Yang's little sister to an almost late morning. Her long blonde hair, which becomes brighter in color at the tips and flows in a loose and messy manner, hangs behind her back and the back of her academy uniform shirt. Yang chuckles as she messes with Ruby's red and black hair.

"Come on, sister." She said, "We're not gonna be late on the last day of semester, are we?"

Ruby's eyes flash in realization. The last day of the semester—and they're going to be late! She springs off her bed and, with Yang stepping aside, she rushes to the closet to change from her pajamas to her academy uniform. She quickly puts on her red and black uniform skirt and black, golden-trimmed uniform coat and red undervest, but she keeps her red hood and cape hanging out of the back.

"Blake and Weiss went ahead to class early while I get you ready. We just need to hurry before we get caught late."

Ruby puts on her finishing black leggings and boots before she steps out of her own cover.

"Okay, I'm ready." She said, "Let's hurry."

And with that, both Ruby and Yang rush out the door and through the hallway in their way to class. Both Ruby and her sister feel excited about today. Last day in class. One intense mission against the Grimm. And a party taking place to put the first day of freedom to start! In her mind, this is going to be the best day ever!

Being exactly on time in class and being seated in their usual seats in this history classroom, Ruby rests her chin over her palm and her elbow resting onto the student counter as she waits for a final history lesson. She lifts her head up and turns her attention to her right, seeing Weiss Schnee sitting right next to her. She also sees Yang sitting at Weiss's right, and Blake Belladonna sitting at her right. The usual. Ruby smiles as she turns to Weiss.

"Hey, Weiss, aren't you excited for the party tonight?" She asks.

Weiss, as she keeps her off-center pony-tailed white hair in front of her right shoulder, turns her ice blue eyes to Ruby and gives her a slight smile. The light reveals her pale complexion and the crooked scar across her left eye as she keeps that smile. Despite her cold attitude towards Ruby during the first time they meet, she had grown a bit of a friendship towards her. Along with towards Yang and Blake.

"A bit, admittedly." She answers, "However, we shouldn't forget the fact that we would have a very important mission after class."

"What about you two?" Ruby asks.

"This day is gonna be amazing, I can tell." Yang answers.

Blake Has her wavy black hair hanging behind her in her usual manner as her amber eyes never left the novel she's currently reading. Her eyes themselves slightly tilted upwards at the ends, making her somewhat catlike appearance. Her black ribbon bow cover her Faunus heritage, her cat ears, from the public; with the exception of her teammates.

"Could be fun." She said casually.

After a minute of the classmates chatting about usual, daily things and even the party and the missions they are about to embark, the classroom goes silent as their history professor, Bartholomew Oobleck. This rather young man of a teacher is obviously more intellectual than a fighter among the rest of the professors in the academy. Messy green hair. His brown eyes hidden with his opaque round glasses. His whole attire appears to be disheveled; his white shirt partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, showing a slack yellow tie, along with mismatched brown and black shoes. He has his mug in hand as he "glides" to the front of his desk, which has a mess on and around the desk. As usual, it's as if moves as a blur with his legs always staying stationary; which people guess it has something to do with his daily coffee intake. And when he speaks, he speaks very rapidly.

"Morning, class." He said, "Now, since this is the last day of class for the semester, I think it's time to give a lecture that's…unusual."

Ruby's eyes flash. Unusual? The word "usual" would refer to generation timelines and even an age before the Grimm ran rampant across the world. So, what's unusual? As if the teacher read her mind, he rapidly and blurringly writes timelines of a historic line of, what she could read, "dynasties", "lords" and "dark forces". Bartholomew even rapidly draws some sketches of some creatures and some kind of weaponry that neither Ruby nor anyone else had seen before. These creatures look nothing like the Grimm, but they look more disturbing and darker in her eyes. One of these sketches look like a ninja, except his eyes are replaced with three glowing green eyes and one of his arms carries a brace armed with an arm blade. His body and clothing ripped and bandaged by god knows what. Another is what appears to be a floating orb made up of skulls; let alone a single reddish-orange "mouth" at the center. A third being a terrifyingly thin woman, with her eyes grown to large bulbous ones and her body carrying exoskeleton and a pair of insect-like wings. Even her arms had grown a pair of mantis-like claws. Finally, a giant, tusked beast that is red in color and wearing black shoulder armor and spiked samurai helm. Wielding a large, spiked club and his teeth huge, the monster looks just as terrifying as the others. Finally, even worse than the last, a menacing-looking overlord of a creature. Its lower body has a snakelike body and tail. Its torso revealing a ribcage with not its own godly muscle, with the snake underbelly going up the sternum. A pair of bat-like wings spread out on its back. And finally, its demonic head resting a pair of large horns, a pair of reptilian eyes and a single eye resting on its forehead.

And then, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake all focus on the sketch of a samurai warrior standing before the monstrous ruler. Red plated armor, wielding a katana and a strange, large gauntlet on his right forearm having its own single eye.

With all wrote and sketched like a printer, Bartholomew glides back to the front of the desk and clears his throat.

"As we all know, we had an age and a civilization before the one we have now. The time before the we fight against the Grimm." He lectures, "However, what I haven't told you yet, is a time when even that age had its own ancient history. And its own dark past. You see, there was an age when technology was foreign to the human. There war between human beings. Before these monsters called "demons" came to strike upon them when they were at their weakest. Now, these "demons", as discovered texts had described, were more organized and more dangerous than the Grimm we have today. They would have humanity erased long ago…"

He rapidly moves to the sketches of the weapons of, what is written, warriors called "divine warriors". Bizarre-looking swords, spears, hammers and even double swords.

"Were it not for warriors having THESE magical weapons and powers. Much like we use our abilities and out weapons, back then, these warriors used a magic power to dispel the demons and use these powerful weapons to stop hordes of these monstrosities. The magic power of the "Oni". But unlike us, they use weapons based from elements of nature. Lightning. Fire. Wind. Earth. Ice. Light. Even water. Eventually, in their war against the demons, the demons were finally dispelled and rid out of the earth for good."

He notices a raised hand; one raised by Weiss, who suddenly gains an interest of this "Oni and Demon" kind of ancient history.

"Yes?"

"I have a question." Weiss said, "Since our history ran years after the Oni Age, is there a possibility that hunters and huntresses have a new reason to be what they are? That they would somehow have somewhat of a relation towards these Oni as in bloodline?"

Bartholomew makes a sudden rubbing on his chin, thinking. Not anyone, even the professors had ever thought about that. Only because there never WAS proof of Oni and Hunters/Huntresses being related somehow.

"That's a good question, Ms. Schnee." He answers, "There is a possibility. However, all I could tell you all, is that whenever there is a dark force threatening to wipe out humanity, even if it's demons or Grimm, there will always be a powerful force to stop it. And as we repeat the history of fighting in a war somewhat similar to Oni and Demons, we can only repeat it completely by eradicating the dark forces."

Suddenly, the school bell rings.

"Oh! I guess that's the time." Bartholomew said, "Class dismissed. Enjoy your semester break!"

After the class was dismissed, and Team RWBY made their way back to their dorm room, they change their clothing to what they would wear for their upcoming mission. A mission assigned to hunt down a new Grimm species for the field scientists to study. As the girls change and prepare, Ruby sits on her bed, staring off onto the floor. She wears her long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over the top of the gray shirt is a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resembles the lacing of a corset. What she also wears in her "Slayer Outfit" is a red skirt with a large black-colored print of her rose emblem on the side of it, and the inside of her skirt is black. She still wears her same pitch black stockings, but with a different pair of black-and-red boots. A few pieces of metal attached to her sleeve on her left shoulder acts as her spaulder. As usual, she wears her red cape and a scarf as part of the hood. And, the color of red matches the drawing of the Oni warrior.

She wonders…Maybe a relation is possible…

She keeps her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe, or her "Crescent Rose", strapped on her back as well she keeps ammunition clips in her pouch.

"Hey, Ruby. You've been awfully quiet lately." Yang said.

Ruby looks up at her, and smiles a bit. Yang's "Hunter Outfit" is far different from Ruby's style in combat. She wears her collared cream top over her black shirt. And over top of the former is a black article of clothing that consists of a raised collar, a strap across her collar bone, and mid-length sleeves that are gold at the end. Around her neck is a pendant that has a smooth, round, purple gem set in a round piece of metal that has a point coming off the left and right sides and a small oval shape coming from the bottom. She has a pair of crooked black belts with gold accents across her hips, and a purple piece of fabric with lilac lace around the edges hangs from her left hip. She has a gray article of clothing going down from under her cream top that is either a mini-skirt or part of her black shirt. It has vertical belted straps going down into her thigh-high black stockings. Finally, she wears a pair of black boots with a series of belted straps across them. On the back of each boot at the top is a large white ribbon tied into a bow. Her forearms wear her usual pair of her Dual Ranger Shot Gauntlets, her "Ember Celica". Ruby's half-sister looks down at her in a half-playful, half-concerned expression.

"Anything alright?" She asks.

Ruby smiles as she turns to Weiss and Blake finishing up on their preparations.

Weiss's "Snow Pea Outfit" has her own elegance in her own way. Wearing a pure white dress with black edging and two columns of four black buttons on the abdomen. There is a snowflake emblem on her back, in pale blue. The inside of the skirt portion of the dress contains black frills as she brushes it to neatness. She also wears thigh-high, white high-heel boots with frilly black thigh-high stockings that come up slightly above the top of her boots. She gives her Multi Action Dust Rapier, her "Myrtenaster", a few test swings to see if it's still functional. Seeing its revolver-like chamber of dust vials spin in functionality, she nods in readiness.

Blake, on the other hand, ties the last of her black high-heeled boots that come hallway up her calves before she stands straight. Her "Intruder Outfit" fits her combat style perfectly. She wears a white V-neck zip-up shirt that is black along the bottom and has mid-length sleeves. Her belladonna flower emblem is printed in off-white on the left side of the shirt. She wears black pants that have a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg, and she wears a black belt with them. Attached to the inner side of the belt is a black, somewhat curved, banner-like piece of fabric that hangs from the back and extends forward to her hips. On the underside of this is a thinner, longer, similarly-shaped purple piece of fabric. She still wears the bow that covers her ears. She sheathes her Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe, or her "Gambol Shroud".

"I'm okay." Ruby answers, "I've just been thinking about what Mr. Oobleck said. About the Oni and the Demons. And, you know, us. What if us and Oni were related?"

Yang has her hands on her hips, pondering about that. Weiss and Blake look at each other, trying to read each other's thoughts.

"Well, we know that our abilities come from auras and our dust." Weiss answers, "But, it could be possible. I mean, we don't know what Oni used for their powers back in the day. For all we know, they'd probably had used dust like WE do."

"Or something else." Blake interjects, "Because, to be honest, I don't really think dust and auras would have been enough to wipe out an entire horde of Demons. Talk about survival of the fittest."

"But, anyway. Now's now the time to be thinking about ancient history." Weiss said, "Now's the time to get to our mission."

"And kill some Grimm!" Yang said confidently as she holds up a fist armed with her Ember Celica.

Ruby smiles at her own confidence. She springs to her feet, excited to have their best day ever.

"You're right, Weiss!" She said, "Let's— "

Before anyone could comprehend on what's happening, the aura around Ruby suddenly glows blue as electricity sparks harmlessly around her and near Yang. Yang, Weiss and Blake all stare in shock. Ruby, now noticing this, her eyes widen and she has a feeling of panic.

"What's going on?" She asks, scared.

"I…" Yang tries to say before she realizes her aura is on fire, "What's happening to ME!?"

"Um…I don't know." Weiss said, "But the main thing is to NOT panic."

Suddenly, Weiss and Blake's auras are bathed in their own elemental surges. Weiss's is spilling out snowflakes and icy mist. Blake's is releasing raging winds around her. Then, the girls didn't get a chance to panic before their bodies are suddenly vanished into thin-air with a flash of mysterious proportions. Soon after, Ruby and Yang's fluffy dog, Zwei, walks into the room, expecting Ruby to be in there. However, the dog sits and tilts his head when a figure took the girls' place. A figure covered in red armor and the strange, one-eyed gauntlet.

"Where…am I?"

* * *

Hello everyone! You know it is I, and that concludes chapter one of The Onimusha Quest! Now, admittedly, I've grown lazy on this chapter. I just want to get the first chapter out of the way so we can get straight into the main plot of the story. Am I right?

Anyway, thanks for reading my story so far! Be sure to follow this series if you haven't already. And as always, this is PsychoReptile signing off!


	3. Chapter Two: Tragedy Turned to Faith

Chapter Two: Tragedy Turned to Faith

A flash of light is all that Ruby's eyes could see. It nearly blinds her as she feels herself shifted and manipulated by some sort of powerful force. She doesn't know if her sister, Weiss or even Blake are suffering the same fate, but as the flash disappears, she opens her eyes to see that she is not in her dorm room anymore. She looks around to see that she is near an ancient Japanese house that didn't seem to suffer the same fate as the houses that had burned down to ash-covered twigs. She jumps a bit when she hears cawing from some kind of bird she never seen before; a crow on a burnt roof frame cawing for the dead before flapping its wings. And as she feels rain pouring over her and her boots somewhat digging into the mudded dirt, she realizes that she's in what used to be a village. With what's left of it, anyway. She turns to a fiery outline of Yang's form before Yang, too, opens her eyes to find herself in the same environment. Soon, Weiss and Blake follow shortly by their icy and windy outlines. As their outlines vanish as quickly as they appeared, all the girls look around in confusion and curiosity.

"What…just happened to us?" Blake asks, a bit shaken by the "teleportation".

Weiss looks around before she notices a carved slab of wood nailed to a pole, near the entrance of the village temple. She walks to the wood and traces her finger onto the carved markings that appear to be the villagers' writing. Even she couldn't understand what it says. With this sudden curiosity, she frowns.

"I don't think the question is what happened to us." She said, "I think the question is, where are we?"

Ruby observes the wooden and burnt structures. Or, WHEN are they? The structures of the houses are very different from the old and rusty constructions that were left abandoned after a Grimm invasion. So primitive and yet so familiar. As she sees everything, she doesn't think they're in Beacon Academy anymore. Yang turns her head to notice something from a distance, and her eyes widen by the sudden grievous sight.

"Guys. You should come look at this." She said.

Ruby, Weiss and Blake all walk to Yang to see what she seems so shocked by. And Ruby's own eyes widen by the sight of corpses rotting on the mudded ground everywhere. Some were left charred to the bone while others are being eaten by scavenging crows. Every man, woman and child. Ruby walks down the wooden stairway and looks at each and every corpse she could see so far. There is no point to try to see if they're still alive. So many lost lives that could've been saved, and Ruby wants to cry over their deaths. Blake kneels before one corpse and narrows her eyes, noticing wounds inflicted by weapons alone. No claw marks or teeth that could've torn the man's flesh.

"Could it be the Grimm that attacked here?" Yang asks.

"No." Blake answers with slight grief, "The wounds seem to be inflicted by blade and animal hooves. It couldn't be Grimm. I'm not sure if it's White Fang, wither."

Ruby wipes away the tears that tried to escape her eyes. She's still a child, but she knows how to stay strong even at the sight of fallen souls. Yang notices this and glares at the direction of a dark forest, where the murderers had most likely moved to. She curls her hands into fists, her gauntlets clicking in preparation to fire at the enemy.

"Whoever did this…they can be damn sure we're here to avenge these people." She said.

Rain continues to pour down as silence fills the air.

"Help! Please help!"

Ruby and Weiss suddenly hear a call from afar, and they quickly turn their heads to the forest. A soothing, calm voice of a woman; yet in a tone that sounds like distress. One of Blake's cat ears twitch as she, too, hears it. Yang's eyes widen when she hears that, knowing that not all is lost from the attack.

"Did you guys hears that?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah. I think we all hear that." Blake answers, alert.

"Someone please help! I'm weak and vulnerable!"

"Someone's in trouble!" Ruby said in alarm, "We have to save her!"

Weiss walks down the stairway to join her teammates.

"Then we better hurry!" She said.

And at once, Ruby and her team rush across the walkway of the ruined and ravaged village. The splattering of mud and rain water beneath their feet, and passing of poor villagers left as rotting flesh and scorched skeletons. Even babies didn't have a chance. Crows fly off the corpses as the girls run pass them, and they desperately race to the source of the distress call. They aren't planning to let another person be slaughtered by whatever or whoever killed the rest of the village. Ruby, being the fastest of the team, is the first to notice something off from a distance. A figure trying to walk on its own, but to make a few steps limply. She stops, along with her team, when they all could see that the figure is a wounded, old man walking across the walkway barefooted. Numerous arrows impale the man's back and torso as he weakly tries to stay alive. Ruby steps forward and calls out to the man.

"Sir! Are you alright?"

The man stops, hearing Ruby's call, and turns his head to her and the other girls. The old man makes a frightened gasp; not for his safety, but for theirs. He reaches a hand to them.

"No…" He said weakly, "You have to LEAVE!"

The wounded man falls to his knees, but Ruby was fast enough to catch him from falling face-first into the mud. Ruby and the girls look upon him in grief concern. He must be the only survivor along with the one calling for help. Poor old man… Weiss kneels next to Ruby, checking his fatal wounds.

"Are you alright?" Weiss asks, "What happened here?"

The old man raises his head, trying to speak as the wounds begin to take a toll to him.

"You girls…" He said weakly, "You have to get out of here! They're…"

"They're?" Yang asks, "Who's 'they'?"

Before the man could answer, something suddenly flies through the air and impales him from behind. Ruby's eyes widen and she looks what it is. A spear pierced his spinal cord and anything else in its path. She turns her attention back to the man's dying eyes.

"Sir? SIR!?"

The old man breathes out his last breath as his arms goes limp. Dead. Ruby retracts her arms away and the man's body falls softly onto the ground. Before she could grief for the poor man, she looks up to see four soldiers in black armor rushing into the village. The soldiers stop when they catch a glimpse of Ruby and her team, and they pull out their blades to kill their soon-to-be victims. Ruby and Weiss stand up as Yang and Blake prepare to pull out their own weapons. By the looks on their covered faces, they seem to not be as friendly as the villagers would be before they were slaughtered. Ruby glares at the soldiers.

"You're the ones who attacked here?" She demands.

The soldiers stay silent.

"Why?" Weiss asks, "Who are you working for?"

Silence still, and the soldiers walk their way to the them. With no other option being obvious, Ruby's red rectangle opens up into her scythe-sniper rifle hybrid. She holds the scythe in her hands in her own attack stance. Weiss unsheathes her Myrtenaster and holds it in front of her face; a much more elegant stance. Blake pulls out her Gambol Shroud, a black whip-like attachment stays with her as she prepares to slice one of them in two.

"We won't forgive you." Yang said as she raises her fists, "You're going to pay!"

The soldiers charge at the girls, and the girls charge to them. A soldier tries to swing his arm in a horizontal way to land a fatal blow on Ruby, only for Ruby to sprint forward like a blur and slice her scythe upward. She leaves behind a puff of rose petals as the soldier in sliced open by the advanced blade. She keeps her scythe-behind-her-back stance as the soldier falls to one knee. She looks back at the soldier rising to his feet, surprised that he's still standing. Normally, even the largest Grimm die by that fatal strike. She sprints back and uses her speed to land multiple blows onto the soldier before letting him fall back in a dying shout of pain. Weiss swings her rapier-like sword against the soldier's katana, using grace and precision in her own fight. She aims for the soft parts of the armor—stomach area, joints and the area exposing his neck—and cuts into his neck and stomach. However, to her surprise, the soldier still stands regardless of the slit across his throat and the wound in his stomach. He didn't seem to need his throat at all! Blake, assuming this is a simple fight, uses her blade-in-scabbard as she disappears in a shadow and reappears behind the soldier. As she lands on her feet, the soldier is brought off his feet and lands back-first onto the mud. Noticing the soldier sitting up, she forms her blade into a gun-scythe hybrid and throws it into his shoulder. She falls into surprise when the soldier casually raises his hands to pull the black wire. Blake couldn't give him the slightest chance as she pulls the wire and the soldier back to her in a surprising showcase of strength. The soldier didn't have a chance to fight back as the Fauna rips uses her pull to rip out the blade and fires the pistol part of the weapon. The soldier eventually shouts in his death by the few bullets fired into his head. Which is unusual. Yang raises her arms to defend herself against another soldier's blade, before she counters with a series of punches. Each punch unleashes a shotgun blast as it blasts into his armor and flesh. Black blood begins to ooze out of the wounds as Yang pounds another punch into his faceplate, shattering it completely.

"What the…?" Yang said in shock.

For when the smoke exposes the soldier's face, the man's face shows a profile more monstrous than human. His gritted, sharp teeth and red demonic eyes glare at her before he swings his blade once more. However, Yang puts two final shotgun blasts to the face before she gave him the chance. As the soldier falls dead, and to Yang's surprise, his dead body dissolves into a cloud of red and black smoke. Flesh, armor and all vanish in his own blood-made gas as the wind blows it away. And the monster of a soldier is gone just like that. Yang stares at the soldier's former position, dumbstruck. Weiss lands a fatal blow upon her enemy, only to get the same outcome; along with Ruby and Blake. Yang frowns in confusion. What is going on? How can they disappear just like that?

And then they hear the calls for help once more, and they rush to the source again. Ruby leads her team down the walkway and under the Torii gate to get through the gate to the other part of the village. There, the RWBY team rush through the bamboo forest to a small bridge that was made over a small creek just nearby of manmade hut. There, two soldiers stand at the other side of the small ten-step-length bridge. The rain pour down and the creek water rush under the bridge as Ruby and Weiss take their shots. Ruby stabs her scythe into the ground to aim and fire a high-caliber bullet into one soldier's chest. Weiss summons her Semblance to give herself her own slippery surface. With this, she skates on at high speed, and slices her weapon across the other's legs, lifting him to the air. Weiss sees another soldier, a red-armored one, and she moves in to clash blades with him. After this act, Yang and Blake dispatch the soldiers Ruby and Weiss dealt with before they'd get a chance to get back up. Yang punches Ruby's enemy twitch, one blast shattering his faceplate and the other to obliterate his skull. Blake lands on her feet onto Weiss's enemy, slicing the soldier until he, too, died. Weiss creates another Semblance into thin air, allowing Ruby to land on it and makes a tactical jump as Weiss distracts the red soldier. And as Weiss strikes the soldier's legs, bringing him to his knees, Ruby comps down to bring her scythe down his skull. The demonic samurai dies instantly. And as Ruby sees another red soldier rushing her way, Yang jumps in his way and crosses her gauntlets to block his blade. A clang could be heard before Yang blasts the soldier's blade to shattered pieces and punches him back. The shotgun blast is not enough to kill the soldier before Blake jumps over Yang and throws her grappling blade into his throat. And with a swift movement, the Fauna jets forward to cut into his torso.

With the soldier shouting in his final pain, and all the dead disappearing in clouds of red and black, Ruby and the team rush to the red gate that leads to something completely different from the rest of the village. For what awaits them is a small pond full of clear water being assaulted by rainfall. At one side, they, the gate, and a shrine of a dragon are present. At the other side, is another Torii gateway in front of a cavern not far away. And, before they could react, three large boulders emerge to the surface to form a path to the cavern. And with the same call coming from the cavern, Ruby didn't hesitate to jump over the rocks to reach the tunnel. And neither did her teammates. The inner walls of the tunnel lead the team to their left, where a shrine of a glowing pink stone shines in the darkness, and with a turn of a right, another left and another right, Ruby and her team finally make it to an old gateway. This must be it. Ruby opens the gate to lead her team to a large lake. A lake where an ancient Japanese house stays intact and unharmed by the outside force. Mist and cherry-flowered trees remain around the house.

Ruby looks around, trying to find the source of the call. That woman should be here. Unless they're too late. As she has that thought of doubt, Ruby and her team hear the calling again.

"Ruby Rose…" The voice said, "Yang Xiao Long…Weiss Schnee…Blake Belladonna…Are those names correct?"

Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake look at each other, shocked, before Ruby turns to the house.

"Yes." She answers, "We're Team RWBY. We thought you were in danger."

Just as she said that, they all hear a soothing, playful laugh coming from something or someone. Ruby soon notices a bright pink orb swirling from the house doorway and to their direction, leaving cherry flower petals behind. As the RWBY Team watch the orb vibrate the air and the orb brightens, that orb slowly form into the shape of a woman before them. This lithe woman has her human upper body, but her lower body was replaced with a tail that belongs to a flat snake. This beautiful descendent of the Oni race, before they were wiped out by the Demons, wears a dress of Japanese tradition. Blue in color. Her hair is formed in two long buns as she wears a fern-like headdress. This sole survivor of the Oni Clan floats in midair as she opens her eyes, smiling at Team RWBY.

"You're the one who's been calling us?" Yang asks.

"I am." The Oni woman answers, "I am Takajo. Sole survivor of the Oni Clan."

This answer brings a wave of shock upon all the girls. Ruby, especially. The age of Oni and Demons, the age that professor Oobleck lectured them about, is the age that THEY'RE in! Weiss just stays where she is, unable to believe what is happening. She figured that they're in some ancient timeline, but never did they figure that they're in the time of the Oni-Demon War.

"I was also the one who watched over the Yagyu Village. However, I alone would never be able to defeat the one responsible. That is why I called forth you fourth to come to our world and defeat the monster responsible. You, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake, must defeat Nobunaga Oda. For HE is the new Demon lord."

Silence over the girls. They are a loss for words, unable to comprehend on everything that has happened. Takajo sighs as she is aware of their confusion and their slight fear. They shall be ready eventually. They have the courage, the will and the skills to do anything.

"I know that I am asking too much from you." She said, "But please…will you help not only me…but the rest of Japan and possibly even the world?"

Ruby looks at Yang, then Weiss, and then Blake before she raises a finger.

"One moment, maim." She answers, "Please?"

Ruby and her team turn around and gather closely; in a form of a huddle.

"Alright team…what are we thinking?"

"I don't know if we're ready for something like this." Blake said, "I mean, we didn't even realize that those were demons until she told us that we're in the middle of some war."

"Come on, Blake." Yang replies, "You know what we did to those murdering monsters. We nearly beat the crap out of them back there! If those soldiers are little effort, this 'Nobunaga' guy won't even be a sweat! We can do this!"

Ruby, Yang and Blake look at Weiss, and the white elegant warrior sighs with a smile.

"If that's what it takes to get us home, I think we should do it." She said.

Ruby smiles, and they all turn back to Takajo, their faces full of confidence.

"Alright." Ruby said, "We'll help you! We'll defeat Nobunaga!"

Takajo smiles at that. These brave girls, although too young to understand the danger of the Demons' power, are just as valiant and as noble as she had foreseen. She had been watching over other worlds and other timelines for quite some time. And the time of the Hunters and Huntresses, especially. History does have a strange way of repeating itself. There's just one thing left to do. She raises a hand to summon a stream of glowing petals upon Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake. They only scream a little before they are restrained by the Oni power covering them. And as she had given enough power to them, she retracts her hand. And with that, the petals disappear and the girls breathe deeply by the experience.

"Apologies for the slight pain." Takajo apologizes, "Your hands now possess the power to absorb Demon souls. Use this power to defeat Nobunaga!"

Ruby raises her hand to her view, along with her teammates, and the palm of their left hands bears a marking of the Oni Clan. Her eyes widen, shocked. Yang, Weiss and Blake are no different as they all look up at the Oni survivor.

"Five Sacred Orbs were created to protect the humans from Demons." Takajo said as she raises her hands to summon a blue orb, "Charity. This is YOUR orb, Ruby Rose."

With an unknown power, she pushes the orb through midair and the orb slowly reaches into Ruby's hand. Ruby holds the orb tightly in her left hand, looking at the Japanese marking that, as she doesn't know, reads "Charity". And suddenly, an image flashes into each of the girls' minds. Five orbs forming like a barrier between terrifying ogre, a Demon, and a human warrior.

"Faith. Honesty. Respect. And Strength. Gather all the orbs to defeat Nobunaga. Ruby Rose, you must go to the Dragon Shrine and obtain a hidden power. Without these new powers, your weapons and your own abilities will become useless to more powerful Demons. Useless against Nobunaga, in fact."

Takajo turns to a rippling in the water of the lake.

"Oh! That reminds me." She said, "I shall have you accompanied by a relative of the Oni Clan."

As if on cue, a figure emerges from the lake water. This warrior that walks before the girls is much less human than the soldiers they fought before. Clad in dark blue samurai armor, this humanoid "Oni Relative" has biological details that relate to crocodilians. His skin is covered with dark green scales that resembles snake-like. His three-toed, clawed feet remain barefoot without the usual samurai sandals. His three-digit claws prepare to pull his own blade out of his scabbard, which is strapped to his left hip. His average-length neck carries his gator-like head on his shoulders. His rather medium snout has protruding teeth and large fangs outlining his jawline. Under the nostrils, a single tooth acts as a "beak". And the warrior's black eyes remain hidden under his Kasa, or his somewhat cone-like hat. Ruby and the other girls notice a banner of a head similar to this warrior and three claw marks behind it. It seems too much like the banner of the White Fang.

"This is Tsumi Watasumi." Takajo said, "He will guide you to the beginning of your quest. In the gold mine in Imasho."

Ruby and her team look at Tsumi, who smiles as he tips his hat to them. They turn back to her, and she disappears in a flash of bright light.

"You can do it…Onimusha."

And with that, the light vanishes, and she is gone. Only the sounds of the blowing winds and the calm waters remain. Except for the sounds of Tsumi stepping out of the lake and standing before Ruby Rose. Short as she is, Ruby look up at him in slight nervousness. This warrior's appearance is intimidating.

"So, you're the one to guide us?" She asks.

"You got it." Tsumi answers, smiling a bit, "Come. We're going to be in one HELL of a journey."

Ruby steps aside as Tsumi walks pass them and pushes the gate open. With the RWBY team following him, he takes the lead of this journey for now. Steam now erupt as they walk through the tunnels that, before, led them to Takajo's home. Ruby takes a few fast steps, only to be walking at Tsumi's right side.

"So, you actually seem remarkably well being a guide for us girls." She said.

Tsumi raises an eyebrow as he turns his head to her. And he then turns away, looking grimmer this time.

"Anything to take that bastard Nobunaga down." He replies.

"Why?" Weiss asks.

"There was a time after the Oni-Demon War, after the first Onimusha killed the original Demon King, when Lord Nobunaga came to my kind." Tsumi answers, "My kind, the Jaidos, once lived the rivers and lakes of Japan, you see. Nobunaga and his forces came down to our villages. Slaughtered most of my people."

Ruby closely listens, along with her teammates, and soon understand his troubled past. This "Nobunaga" guy must've been some kind of douche to the world. They make it to the outside of the cavern before they jump across the boulder pathway and to the other side of the lake. Tsumi stops and holds Ruby back, as if sensing something. He then steps away, acting casually.

"Despite the slaughtering, Nobunaga took most of my kind into slavery." He said as he slowly pulls out a dagger, without everyone else looking, "Not for work, you understand, but for war. My people use to be humble and peaceful people, but now torture and maiming seem to amuse them."

Ruby turns her head to look at the direction of the Dragon Shrine. The ancient, metallic sculpture of the dragon rests in the wooden frame as its mouth remains open. As if for someone to fit his/her hand inside. A few feet away, Tsumi pulls out the dagger and turns to her direction, anger in his eyes. Yang soon notices his action, looking at him suspiciously.

"I never liked human, to be honest." He said, "They're blind, stubborn people. And they push aside those that they think lesser than their own."

Yang, Weiss and Blake notice Tsumi slowly raising the small weapon, out of Ruby's view. While her back is turned to him, he prepares to strike.

"RUBY!" Yang yells.

Ruby turns to Yang before she notices Tsumi preparing to throw the dagger at her. Without a second thought, she jumps and closes her eyes tightly when the Jaidos warrior throws it towards her. After she hears a quick slack of the blade flying past her, she opens one eye and looks at Tsumi. It's not her he was looking at. She turns around to see a soldier stepping limply out of his bamboo cover. He drops his bow and arrow, which he intended to use it on Ruby, as he makes a coughing noise before falling dead into the mud. A puff of red and black appears in a second before the demon is removed completely. She breathes of in relief when she realizes that Tsumi saved her life.

"But Demons…DEMONS, I HATE more." He declares.

Yang and Weiss makes the same breath of relief when they realized that. Blake, on the other hand, relaxes as she leaves her blade in her blade-like scabbard. She knew what Tsumi was trying to do. And, hearing that Demon herself, she would've taken his herself. Ruby smiles at Tsumi as he walks to her, only to receive a nod.

"Do you actually know HOW to kill a Demon?" He asks.

"Well, yeah." Weiss answers as she jumps off the third rock and onto the lake bay, "We used our weapons and abilities to do it."

Tsumi shrugs.

"A little more to it than that."

The Jaidos warrior kneels near Ruby, placing a hand on her shoulder, and points at the direction of where the Demon was. And Ruby sees a floating, red orb of mist and power from a distance.

"Do you see that, Ruby?" Tsumi asks.

"Yeah." Ruby answers, "What is that?"

"That is a Demon soul. It has a few minutes to disappear and become resurrected. Now, all you have to do." He reaches out his clawed hand and spreads his fingers, "Is to reach out and concentrate on absorbing it. Just think of the soul as if you're eating something else."

"Like a cookie?"

Tsumi stares at her, and then shrugs in his own confusion.

"Don't know what that is…but yes. All you have to do is just do it."

Tsumi steps back and watches as Ruby smiles in confidence. Yang, Weiss and Blake all watch her raise her hand and spread her fingers. She thinks of eating that one delicious cookie as she closes her eyes. After a full minute, nothing happens. However, something unbelievable happens. To everyone's eyes, the marking on her palm glows red as it draws in power and magical forces. Soon, the soul moves rapidly towards her, as if summoned by Ruby's Oni power. She opens her eyes to watch the soul finally being sucked into her palm, permanently consumed by her power. Her face couldn't hide the surprised and wondered expression of what she just did.

"Woah." Yang said, surprised.

Ruby turns to the smiling Tsumi, looking like a proud master to an apprentice.

"You see?" He asks, "All you need to do is think of that ONE thought. Now, normally, Demons don't just die by weapons and skill. As long as their souls remain intact, they will always come back."

"So, when we use our Oni powers to absorb their souls, they would permanently die?" Weiss asks.

"Yes. That's the trick. As Onimusha, you all are responsible to absorb Demon souls and rid them off this world for good."

Tsumi gestures Ruby to follow, and they both walk to the Dragon Shrine. And as Ruby approaches the shrine, the metallic dragon's eyes glow blue as if it sensed her presence. She sees a writing on the side that reads "Prove your Identity" in Japanese.

"You are the first to obtain an Oni orb. And now, YOU are the first to unlock your hidden power."

Ruby hesitates. This hidden power might replace the weapon she always loved and fought with. She never did want to use any other. However, this new power must be obtained in order to defeat more powerful Demons and Nobunaga. So, she slides her hand into the dragon's mouth, and its eyes flash. For a brief moment, Ruby's fears of losing her beloved weapon has somewhat become eased. Because, her Crescent Rose suddenly opens up in her hands. Her weapon is bathed in a flaming blue light and, replacing the weapon, reveals a completely different weapon that she would never thought she'd have. This large scythe that her weapon used to be is now dragon-like and ancient in design. The scythe's blade itself is more serrated in the edge. Where the attachment fold of the weapon would be, the sniper barrel is replaced with a design of a dragon's opened mouth and a blue "eye" on each side. Throughout the main Snath, from the handles to the gun-like inner mechanics, a strange scaled design stretches down to the near end. And on the end, a diamond-like spike is placed. Ruby stares at her revamped weapon in wonder as the blade itself surges in electricity. She gives herself an attack stance before makes a few test swings with her new weapon. This new weapon, this "Rose of Thunder", is much more lighter and faster than Crescent Rose. She peers onto the Thunderous Rose, still mesmerized by its power.

"Woah." Blake said in wonder, breaking the silence, "We're all getting something like that?"

"There's only ONE way to find out." Yang answers.

Ruby blinks, snapping out of her loss for words. She finds one of the "eyes" and tabs onto it, only for her new weapon to transform into, not a rectangular, but a small orb for her to fit in her pouch. She tilts her head in impression; this will make travelling easier. She turns to Tsumi, and then to her team. She smiles in confidence as she stares off into the raining sky.

"You're right, Yang. There IS one way to find out." She said, "We are now Team RWBY Onimusha! And Nobunaga will be defeated."

"That's more like it, sister!" Yang yells confidently, "Look out, Nobunaga! Because Team RWBY Onimusha is COMING FOR YOU!"

* * *

Hello, everybody! You know it is I, and that concludes our Chapter Two!

Now, I promised that I wouldn't make too many of these Author's Notes, but there's two things we need to get out of the way.

First off, I realized I made a stupid mistake on the title. It was so obvious, but I was too stupid to notice. The only thing that helped me realize this mistake is when one reviewer was pointing it out for me. And the thing that he asked was that if Weiss dies in the story. (laughs) It was only after that when he pointed out my mistake. And after that, I immediately went back and changed the title to saying "RWBY" not "RXBY". So, whoever saw that before I fixed that, I am so sorry about that. It should be fixed by now. I want thank you, Nyamu, for pointing out my obvious mistake that I so stupidly not noticed.

(^-^)

Second off, I want to get this fact out of the way so I can finally hit the showers. I am putting the RWBY team through an adventure that has them put into the plot of Onimusha 2. Only because, Onimusha 2 was always my favorite out of all the three original games. So, yeah, this is going to be Onimusha 2 plot…with more than a DASH of originality.

I also want to point out that you realized that Ruby obtained the "Charity" Orb. And, there's a good reason for that. Since I've actually noticed Ruby saving lives of others and being friendly without expecting anything back is quite charitable. Thus, the "Charity" Orb given to her. Kinda clever, right?

I'm not gonna tell ya guys who obtains the others. You can guess that yourselves. It's a secret. ;)

So, right now, I'm gonna publish this chapter, I'm gonna hit the showers, and I'm gonna go to bed right after I plan for Chapter Three. So, thank you guys so much for reading this. Be sure to follow this series if you haven't already. And as always, this is PsychoReptile signing off!


	4. Chapter 3: Whenever There's Gold

Chapter Three: Whenever There's Gold…

Ruby looks upon the direction of the Imasho town. The town has a wooden wall made up of timbers of logs tall enough to block out even Demon invaders. That, they can tell, is a brilliant defense in this age. Her and the Beacon Academy could do better if they exist here. Near the front gate is a watchtower for a soldier to watch over the town. Well, by viewing the man's poor clothing, rusty weapon and lack of armor, you couldn't really count him as one. Numerous clouds of smoke small enough for her and her teammates to tell that there are fireplaces in several buildings. Either that, or some ancient, steam-powered workplace. From what Tsumi had told them, this town is where gold is first discovered in the Imasho valley. In this economy, this valley is situated between the Mino province of Oda, the north-Omi province of Asai and the Echizen province of Asakura. And in no time, adventurers and merchants have been coming here by some motivation of greed. This actually transformed the small village into a prospering mining town. Little would these people have known that there is some evil within those mines. And RWBY Onimusha has come to remove it.

The RWBY team and Tsumi had took a while to get here. It would take longer without a guide to find the locations. And from that traveling, Tsumi gave Weiss, Yang and Blake the time to train their own Oni powers. And one-by-one, they had perfectly demonstrated their powers. And finally, they're ready to go to the mines and kill whatever's in there. They all stare at the semi-busy town with people coming and going. Ruby looks at her left and right, looking at her teammates and Tsumi before she lays her fists over her hips.

"What are we waiting for?" She said,"Let's go into the mines!"

Yang, Weiss and Blake smile at that.

"We're right behind you, Thunder Rose." Yang said.

Ruby smirks and they all walk down to the gateway of the town. Except, Ruby senses that Tsumi isn't following them. She stops and turns her head, only to see Tsumi standing under the shadow of the forest. Her teammates notice that she stopped and they, too, stop. Ruby frowns in confusion as she walks up to Tsumi, no idea what he's doing.

"What's wrong?" She asks, "Why aren't you coming with us?"

Tsumi looks down at her, and his face fills with guilt.

"I can't." He answers.

Ruby just stares at him, eyebrows furrowed upward.

"Why not?"

Tsumi stays silent as he tries to find a good way to put his answer. He looks up at Weiss, Blake and Yang's concerned looks, wondering why he isn't going with them. After a minute, he sighs as he kneels down before Ruby and looks her into her silver eyes. He might as well just say it.

"I'm a Jaidos, Ruby." He answers, "I'm not human. With the Demon attacks and all, the sight of me would cause a panic. And as they would see you as my followers, they would assume you as monsters as well and try to kill you. I will not put your quest into risk."

"So, that's it?" Yang asks, hands raised, "You're just gonna leave us?"

"Not necessarily. I will still be around the town. Just not in the sight of people. I will always be around. Oh, and I have some close friends in that town. If you meet them, tell them 'The Cherry Flower Blooms'."

Tsumi stares at Ruby as she looks at him with her saddened, searching eyes. Tsumi smiles as he raises a clawed hand to pull something out of his Kasa. He holds up a necklace in front of Ruby's eyes. The necklace is a silver carving of the warrior's head' mouth open and eyes closed with an edged end that looks like an end of a whistle. Below that mouth piece is a metallic loop with a long small chain enough to go around her neck.

"Here. I want you to have this." He said, "It's a Jaid-Summon. My kind use to use these to call for warriors when they are in danger. It's at a frequency that only I can hear. No one else."

Tsumi raises the necklace to put it around her neck. Ruby looks down at the necklace in surprise, getting the concept. It's like a dog whistle! Tsumi holds the metallic device in his palm as he never left his gaze on her; in a form of a promise.

"Whenever you need me, blow into this. And I will come to your aid."

And with that, he retracts his claws and stands straight. Ruby stares at the whistle for a minute, and she then looks up at him and nods. Her confident smile back on her face.

"But know this, Ruby." Tsumi said, "I don't know what you will find in those mines. But, I have heard that members of my kind are in there. If you do run into some, do not hesitate to fight back. They are not like me anymore. They have become deformed and maddened by Demon power. They will KILL you if they get the chance."

"Don't worry." Blake replies, "We won't give them that chance."

Tsumi nods before he places a fist on his chest and bows his head. A salute of good luck. Ruby turns from him and walks back to her team, leading them to the Imasho town. Seeing that Tsumi will still with them in spirit, they continue their stroll to the mines. Blake, on the other hand, makes one last caring glance before she walks away with them. She knows how he would feel. Tsumi watches them walk through the gateway before he walks away to some place near the town walls. It's time to plan for some unfinished business.

The first thing Ruby and her team would see is a fire pit dug into the ground not far and some small stables with only two live horses. As they walk down the walkway, multiple venders with their personal shops are another thing attempting to get their attention. To Weiss, the jewels that one vendor is selling is quite tempting and out of this world. Finally, they find a stairway leading to the main road of the town. There, a building of what appears to be a restaurant stands on their right and multiple houses stand at their left. And at the far north, a larger building awaits at the other side of a bridge, where smoke erupts out of the roof. And as Ruby could see, a stairway nearby of that building's right could be seen. One thing in her mind is telling her that that path leads to the gold mine.

And another thing from her ears proves her mind right.

"GOLD!"

All the girls look at the source, the yell catching their attention. And they watch a frail, exhausted man running down the bridge and down to the middle of a small crowd. In his hands, he holds up a bowl full of dug-up rocks of gold! Men and women gather around the man as he cheers for his discovery.

"I found GOLD!" The man said, "I'm RICH!"

The girls shouldn't be surprised, considering that gold was so common and rich-making back in this age. However, in a way, they become surprised anyway. The man has that maddened smile as a few men try to take the gold, but he jerks the bowl away. He raises it into the heavens. And then, his eyes widen and he makes a choked groan. To everyone's surprise, the man makes his last breaths before he collapses on the ground, spilling the gold onto the dirt. The poor man died out of exhaustion. And as they realize this, all of the men and women push the man's body away and fight amongst themselves for the gold. Ruby and her teammates walk past the fighting group, trying to stay as far away from that fight as possible.

"Should we do something about that?" Blake asks.

"I suggest we let them do it." Weiss answers, "It's all the struggles of being rich."

Weiss turns her head to see Ruby, Yang and Blake all looking at her with bored expressions. Knowing SHE comes from a rich family. As if she has no idea what she said, she shrugs and raises her hands.

"What?"

Ruby rolls her eyes and smiles.

"Hey, Sweet Thing!"

By that, the girls turn their heads to the direction of three men standing around a woman. Knowing that it wasn't them being called a "Sweet Thing", they still feel insulted by the men's obvious ideal. This woman, however, is much more different than the people in town. Her lithe form wears red armor that are plated and designed to match her beauty. Her small gauntlets and her spaulders leave her elbows exposed for flexible and fast strikes. Two metallic straps were made with two large, red circular plates near the shoulders along with a white "bra" keeping her breasts in comfort. The white plate of armor travel from her chest area down her stomach until it meets a belt, with a golden buckle, around her waist. A black under-clothing covers her upper biceps, upper chest area and half of her neck. Yet, strangely, it exposes a cleavage of her breasts. The layered plates protecting her thighs meet with an area formed by a skirt made up of chain mail. She also wears a pair of medium-heeled boots made to be half a thigh high; with numerous silver laces. This woman has her short, coal-dark hair formed with a small ponytail kept in place with numerous blue and silver beads. Despite the men hitting on her, she stands there as if she's completely ignoring it.

"Don't you wanna serve me with a little sake?" One man asks.

The other two men chuckle perversely. The whole thing begins to make the girls glare in disgust, not knowing why this woman is just taking it.

"So, you think you're too good for me, huh?" The man asks before he reaches for her.

The woman is quick to notice as she raises a hand to grab his wrist. The man struggles as he is pulled away by the woman's apparent strength. And as she turns, Ruby soon notices something around her neck. A shining blue gem; with a marking reading "Faith". Before she moves to action, Yang whips her hair back and cracks her neck as she walks up to the men to do what she does best. The woman notices Yang walking to them and pushes the man back. The other two men turn to look at Yang. One of them smiles, noticing her laic eyes, golden hair and body form.

"Oh. Hey there, cutie." The man said, "We didn't notice YOU before. You seem beautiful with that hair."

"Oh yeah?" Yang asks, hands on her hips.

The man nods, and the recovering first man pushes the second man away.

"Say, how's about you and your friends join us and this other lovely lady here? We can work something out."

Yang rolls her eyes slowly as she taps a finger on her chin, pretending to think.

"Hmmm…Okay, but only if you work out…THIS."

Before the man could react, and to the woman's surprise, Yang pulls back a fist and pounds the man's face in. The woman steps back quickly as the tremendous impact causes the man to fly across the bridge and crash into a pile of pots in a shattering explosion. The other two men, shocked by what just happen, turn their heads to Yang. She merely blows the smoke off her bare knuckles as she steps forward.

"So…who else wanna HIT on little o' Miss Yang Long?" She asks, showing her own cocky expression.

Her eyes are closed. So, she couldn't see the men running for their lives until it was too late. Yang's eyes open to see that the woman Is all that stands before her. With her feeling of disappointment, her smile disappears. She jokingly kicks away a pebble.

"I'm only seventeen, anyway." She said, pretending to be pouty.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asks as she walks up to the woman.

"I'm fine." The woman answers, "Thank you."

"Eh. It was nothing." Yang replies, shrugging, "It's typical men, right? Once a woman's 'damsel in distress' act is gone, so are they."

The woman smiles at that.

"Well, thank you. I…have to go now. If you excuse me."

The woman turns around to walk away, but Ruby steps forward, reaching her hand.

"Wait, maim. I— "Ruby tries to say.

"And…I don't want anyone following me. So, please, don't."

"But, that's not what I was…"

The woman doesn't stop walking. By a full minute, she is already a foot away from the smoking building on her way the stairway. Ruby lowers her arm, saddened.

"…Gonna ask…"

She feels Yang lays a hand on her shoulder, and she looks up at her.

"Don't worry, Ruby." Yang said, "She thanked us, and that's all that matters."

"I know. But, I wasn't asking for that. She has one of those orbs around her neck."

Taken back, Yang, Weiss and Blake look at the woman, who is already walking up the stairway clouded by a forest.

"And she's walking up to the mines." Weiss said, irritated, "What are we gonna do now?"

"We need to split up." Ruby replies, "Me and Weiss will follow that woman to the mines. Meanwhile, Yang and Blake will stay here."

"We can look around for these 'close friends' of Tsumi." Blake said.

Ruby nods, and the team separate to do their tasks. Ruby and Weiss walk up to the stairway leading to the gold mine as Yang and Blake make their first place to look in the restaurant. Ruby and Weiss walk up the dirt-made, wood-framed stairway up the hillside to travel up to the mines. Even as far as the eye could see, they couldn't find the woman who bears the orb of Faith. Instead, they see a few of those Demon soldiers killing a man for carrying gold. And as the soldiers notice them, Weiss pulls out her weapon and gets into a stance. Ruby pulls out the red orb out of her pouch and holds it tightly, summoning a dragon-like apparition forming into her Thunderous Rose. And as Ruby holds the Oni scythe in her hands and charges at full speed, she slices through the soldiers cleanly in half. Weiss uses her Semblance to slide forth and, with her revolving vials spinning to a white, she summons an icy barrier, which keeps the third soldier in place for her to slice him up. As all the soldier die instantly, red and black clouds erupt and red souls replace them. Ruby absorbs the two souls as Weiss absorbs the third. Weiss's palm glowing white as she does it.

"That wasn't so hard once you get the right weapons." Ruby said.

"Speak for yourself." Weiss replies, slightly jealous.

Ruby smiles as she transforms her scythe back into the orb and they walk up to the entrance of the mines. She can't really blame her for being jealous of her having an Oni weapon and not her. However, it will eventually be her turn. At the far top of the stairway, they see a man standing in their way, arms crossed and looking directly at them. Weiss clears her throat as she walks up to the man.

"Excuse me, sir." She said, "We're following a woman, and we figure that she walked into your gold mine. We would like to go in, if you don't mind."

"Do you have a permit?" The man asks.

"A permit?"

"That woman had a permit to get in. I ask again, do you have a permit?"

"No, but we're in an important matter. So, if we can— "

Before Weiss and Ruby could walk past him, the man steps in front of them, preventing them from going in.

"I won't allow you to enter the mine unless you HAVE a permit." He said.

Weiss glares up at him, insulted. Ruby looks at her in concern for the man's well-being. In a burst of anger, Weiss pokes a finger on the man's chest.

"How dare you!?" She demands, "I don't think you realized, but we so happen to be Japan's last hope! And I am one of a team of warriors that can be able to freeze every part of your body into ice!"

"Ooooh. I'm so scared." The man said sarcastically, "Look, Fairy Tale Land is at the good part of Japan. Other than that, get your permit."

Weiss moves her hand to pull out her weapon, but Ruby grabs her wrist and struggles to keep Weiss cool. She smiles as she drags Weiss down the stairway.

"Thanks for your time, sir." She said, chuckling, "We'll get our permit and we'll be right back."

Ruby drags Weiss's angry and somewhat thrashing form until she finally calms down. After Weiss give her gesture that she's calm, Ruby lets her go. Weiss still glares up at where the man is, though.

"Well, what do we do now?" Weiss asks, "I'd be sure that this 'permit' would cost us."

Ruby frowns as she stares at the town, thinking. She then notices the gleaming of the gold piled in that small bowl. And idea pops in her head as she walks up to the bowl and picks it up in her hands.

"Maybe this can help us, after all." She replies, smiling.

Meanwhile…

Yang and Blake step into the restaurant, where numerous tables and booths stand. A stool where people could get their food and a stairway leading upstairs are also what they could see. Although the place is relatively empty, there is a mysterious man sitting at the far last table in the building. This man has a muscular body build and some rather unusual apparel. His torso is covered with a black vest; red inside fabric, the sleeveless "circles" are outlined with white and copper trimming. There is also a red piece of leather armor protecting his abs, waist and pelvis area. However, this leaves his upper chest exposed. On the back of his vest, is a red circle with a black bird on it. This black bird as a vulture-like appearance, with three talon-ending feet. He wears a pair of dark pants protected with steel knee and calf braces, along with sandal-like shoes on his feet. His hands and forearms are guarded with leather braces and gloves for him to use, what is next to him, a matchlock rifle. And as Yang leans to look at his face better, she could see some sort of metallic headgear framing his forehead, sides of his face and jawline. They watch as he pours tea from a vase into a cup before he rests the vase onto the table.

Yang smiles as she and Blake walk up to this gun-using man. Perhaps, Yang and this man can come to an understanding; considering they both love to use a gun…in a way. Yang smiles brightly as she raises a hand to offer a handshake. However, the man didn't turn his head to see Yang offering her hand, but to a sudden sound of something being thrown. The man casually pushes Yang back a step to let a spear fly pass them and impale into a wooden pole. Yang and Blake's widen eyes are all that reacts to it before the white vase splits cleanly in two.

"That…was close." Yang said.

Both Yang and Blake turn their heads to another man standing in the doorway, glaring at the gunman. Unlike the gunman, this man is rather overweight, bald and has a thin mustache and a trimmed facial hair down his chin. He wears a sleeveless greenish-yellow shirt; the "sleeves" formed into a ripped trimming and exposing some of his large belly and chest. Around his neck, he wears a necklace in which numerous green beads form into a T-shape. On his left arm, a Japanese marking is tattooed onto his bicep and his wrist is covered with red leather brace. On his right, however, he wears copper-brown armor protecting his entire arm. A belt made up of blue and white rope straps around his waist as a pelt of fox skin hangs from the back of his pelvis area. He wears brown pants, with dark green "socks" his feet and the sandals covering them. By this age, this man would be known as a humble monk of Japan. However, now, he is as mad as a dragon in the apocalypse. The man rushes to the gunman's side as he harshly pushes Yang aside.

"Magoichi!" The monk yells, "Where did you take my girl!? How dare you disturb our time…"

He slams his palms onto the table.

"TOGETHER!?"

As if to answer him, "Magoichi" raises his rifle and fires. The monk ducks as the bullet flies over him and hits a wooden pole—where Blake is! Blake looks up as the bullet had pierced the pole, and a poor writhing moth, right between the two part of her bow. Her only reaction is her pupils shrunk.

"As was that…" She thought.

The gunman lowers his rifle and keeps his serious expression as he raises his cup to his lips.

"That woman gave me the help sign, so I had to break up to two of you." He said casually, "Get over it."

"WHAT!?" The monk demands, slamming his hands on the table once more.

The gunman calmly drinks his tea before he swallows to answer.

"Seriously… Who would want a red bald-head like you?"

The monk is rubbing his bald scalp when he heard that, and something in his mind snaps.

"A RED BALD-HEAD!?"

A silence had past for a second before the monk walks to his spear and rip it out of the pole with a grunt. He turns to the gunman with an expression of war.

"That does it!" He yells, "OUTSIDE, NOW!"

The man glares at him for a second before he storms off outside, spear in hand. The gunman turns his head to the monk's direction and scoffs. He gets up, rifle in hand, and walks outside. Yang and Blake look at each other, thinking that they would have to break their little fight up. However, Blake feels that she had read about these two before. They look and sound so similar…

Any men left outside flee from what they call out as a fight. Apparently, this happens a lot. And, as if on cue, the monk storms into his place with a series of grunts. He turns to the gunman as he walks to his stance area. However, the gunman didn't even bother to get into a combat stance as the monk spins his spear in his hand. The monk makes one final spin as he prepares to thrust his spear into the gunman's stomach. With a glare, he charges forward to do so.

"Prepare yourself, Magoichi!" The monk yells.

AS he charges, however, the gunman jumps over him in a showcase of power and agility. Yang and Blake step out to watch him make this stunt, impressed. And that's when the gunman fires, unleashing multiple pellets upon the ground around the monk's feet. The monk "dances" his feet to avoid the pellets as the gunman lands perfectly on his feet.

"You cheat, coward!" The monk yells.

"You just play too old-fashioned." The gunman replies, "You might learn a thing or two without your stubborn tactics."

"You arrogant fool!"

Before the two rivals could resume their fight, their feet stop like car brakes when Yang steps in between, raising her hands to stop them. Blake looks at the two of them, didn't expected them to stop. Apparently, nothing can face Yang and NOT stop.

"Hold it right there, guys!" Yang said, "Let's calm down for a bit. There isn't a reason to be fighting."

Blake steps to Yang's side, looking at the two men in realization.

"Now, I remember you two." She said, "I read about you two in the books. Ekei Ankokuji is an honorable monk who gets his fame out the way of the Hozoin spear. Magoichi Saiga is an honorable gunman, who is a chief on the Kishu Saiga Gun Team. It pains me to be inspired by honorable men, only to see them fight for ridiculous things!"

"Yeah." Yang interjects, "I mean, Ekei, you lost a girl. So, what? There's plenty of fish in the sea. Magoichi, you may have some cool-looking gun, but you shouldn't be raising it up and randomly shoot at things. You almost took Blake's head off, stop playing around with it."

To that, Magoichi merely turns his back on them as he rests his rifle on his shoulder. Ekei turns to them and nods to them.

"And YOU are?" He said.

Yang and Blake turn their heads to Ekei, for what feels like an eternity. Blake remembers the words to say that Tsumi told them to once they meet his friends.

"The Cherry Flower blooms." She answers.

By that, Ekei's eyes flash, caught off guard. Magoichi turns his head as those words escape Blake's lips.

"So, you two are the girls that Tsumi wanted us to meet?" Magoichi asks.

Yang turns her head to the gunman, smiling as she nods.

"Eh!? Then, you two are part of the RWBY Onimusha." Ekei said, "Well, fate has brought these gifted girls to be inspired by two proud warriors. There will be no fighting today. Magoichi…I take pity on you, instead."

And with that, Ekei laughs out loud as he lowers his spear and carries it with him back into the restaurant. Magoichi calmly nods to them in respect as he, too, walks back in. Yang and Blake turn to them entering the building before Yang breathes out in relief, hands on her hips. Blake just stares at these two "proud" warriors sitting on their separate tables. Ekei drinking his liquor while Magoichi drinks his tea.

"How'd you make that up so legit?" Yang asks.

"I didn't." Blake answers, "Their names were part of the Oni Age section back at Beacon Library. I managed to read a few sections before we got teleported here."

Suddenly, at the corner of her eye, Blake sees Ruby and Weiss walking down the town walkway. And her eye soon notices the bowl of gold in Ruby's hands. They were walking person-to-person, trying to get information of something. Ruby notices them and waves at them before struggling to get her grip back. Weiss sighs in irritation as they both walk up to Yang and Blake.

"What's with the gold?" Blake asks, "I thought you were following that woman."

"Well, we were." Ruby answers, "Until this big guy came in our way and said 'you can't get in without a permit'."

"That guy was really getting on my nerves." Weiss adds, growling a bit.

"So, what now?" Yang asks, "Do I have to march up to that guy and pound his face in, sister?"

Ruby shakes her head, and holds up the bowl of gold. She walks pass them and into the restaurant. According to the people, when she and Weiss asked around town, there should be a man in the restaurant selling permits for people to mine in. And, in front of a door near the chief's counter, the man stands giving out a permit to a current customer. Ruby smiles as she passes each table and booth. When Ekei notices the girl walking by with a bowl of gold in her hands, he almost choked on his liquor as he watches her walk to the seller. When Magoichi notices her, he only raises his eyebrows in surprise. What are the chances of having a fifteen-year-old coming in town with a bowl full of gold? As the seller notices her, his eyes might as well pop out by the amazing amount of gold. And he looks up at Ruby and the girls behind her.

"I think this covers for the permit?" Ruby asks.

"Uh…this covers a permit for you AND your friends!" The seller answers, "Here. A permit to enter the gold mine. For you and your friends. Good luck."

"Thank you." Ruby replies in the cutest way.

Weiss takes the permit out of the seller's hand as Ruby gives him the bowl of gold. Finally, they can get into the mines without some jerk-off getting in the way. Ruby and the girls walk pass the tables and the two warriors before Yang stops.

"Wait." She said.

As the team stops, Yang turns to Ekei's disappointed expression. Despite that whole rivalry a few minutes earlier, these two does have some potential as their allies. Magoichi is skilled with a rifle. He uses his acrobatics and accuracy to kill his enemy. And he's also that charming, silent type. Ekei, on the other hand, is a monk. Which means he probably has some tricks up his sleeve other than his spear. And, to top it all off, he's a fun guy to be around once you get to know him. And Yang already seen right through Ekei.

"You wanna come with us?" She asks Ekei, "You wanna help us stop the Demons?"

Ekei turns his head to Yang, drinking his liquor, and he smiles a bit. In truth, he has thought of being too old for women and booze. As he normally goes after. These girls will need a monk with a spear and a gunman with a rifle. And there's no one who can use a spear like he can! He grabs his spear and gets off the booth seat.

"Fate has brought us together as warriors united." He answers, "You have my spear, RWBY Onimusha. Besides, I wonder what goodies we will find in those mines."

Ruby smiles as she steps to Yang's side.

"I guess that makes one." Ruby said, turning to Magoichi, "I said, I guess that makes ONE!"

Ruby's smile disappears when she realizes that Magoichi is ignoring her. Ekei shakes his head before he turns to him.

"Magoichi! What are you waiting for?" He calls, "Fight with us!"

"Nah." Magoichi replies as he drinks his tea, "I'm not in the mood."

"How rude…"

Ekei and Yang turn to each other, and Ekei nods.

"Oh! I forgot!" Yang said, "This is Ruby, our team captain. And that over there is Weiss, our Ice Princess. That mysterious lady there is Blake. And I'm Yang."

Ekei gently slams his staff onto the wooden floor and offers a hand to Ruby, and Ruby looks up at the monk's respectful expression.

"It must be luck that has brought this team together by someone so young and yet so spiritual." The monk said, "I will be happy to be by your side."

Ruby smiles at that as she shakes hands with him. Without a minute to lose, Ruby walks out as she leads her team and Ekei up the stairway and to the entrance of the mines. There, the man still guards the entry before Ruby steps up to him and shows him the permit to the mines; the permit allowing her, her friends and Ekei. After looking upon the permit, as proof, he nods in approval.

"Okay. You can go in."

Ruby nods as she walks to the entrance of the mines. Yang and Blake walk pass the man, along with Ekei. And finally, Weiss passes him with thoughts of murder shooting back and forth in her mind. She would rather freeze him into an ice block and go in anyway. Suddenly, two men ran out of the mines, screaming in terror by an unknown cause. The men rush to each of Ruby's sides.

"You shouldn't go in there!" The first man said, "There's monsters…in the mineshaft!"

"Monsters?" Ruby asks.

"A woman wearing armor…" The second man explains, "She went in there. We tried to stop her..."

Ruby's head quickly turns to the mine entrance, and she runs into the mines head-on. Shortly after, Yang, Blake and Weiss follow before Ekei had a chance to catch up. Inside the tunnels of the mines, Ruby didn't take the time to notice the cavern walls and the wooden frames keeping the rocky walls at bay. There are two tunnels for them to take, and Ruby rushes to the second tunnel. She doesn't know if this woman could handle herself against Demons, but she wants to be sure she's safe. Soon enough, Ruby stops in a cavern room after running through two more cavern rooms and tunnels. She takes a minute to catch her breath, which didn't take too long as she hears something coming from the nearby tunnel. She stands in the middle of the room as she turns behind her, only to see that her teammates haven't caught up yet. She turns back to the tunnel to see pairs of red eyes glowing in the darkness. And the pair of monsters step forward to reveal themselves in the light.

They look similar to Tsumi; except their bodies prove that they had, indeed, deformed. Their snouts had grown longer and more triangular. Their arms and legs had thinned and their torsos had grown into thin waists and to the point of looking close to ribcages. Their clawed hands remain the same, but their feet had deformed into them walking on their now-two-toed feet. They now walk with just their curled toes on the ground, in fact. Their shredded pants, Kasas and spaulders remain on their bodies. Their jaws leak of saliva as one of them snarls at Ruby. Ruby steps back, seeing them as tortured, manipulated versions of Tsumi's people. However, she thinks of what Tsumi said. She must make her choice. It's either them, or HER; and they won't hesitate. She opens her pouch and holds her orb to summon her weapon, getting ready to put Tsumi's once-peaceful people out of their misery. And suddenly, two more erupt out of some bluish warp holes behind her.

And as she gets ready to fight back, one of the Jaidos Demons snarls at her in his desire to tear her apart.

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 4: You Will Find a Deadly Sin

Chapter Four: …You Will Find A Deadly Sin

Weiss, Yang, Blake and Ekei lost track of where Ruby went. They decided to split up as they separate into each of the first tunnels. Yang and Blake will take the second tunnel while Weiss and Ekei will take the first. And as they split up, Yang and Blake make their way deeper into the mines as they passed piles of rocks and empty barrels. They run as fast as they could when they hear snarls from afar. Yang hopes Ruby is okay...

Surrounded by the Jaidos Demons, Ruby prepares herself. One of the demons lashes out forward with his broken blade, and Ruby slices into the monster five blurred swings a second. The deadly Oni scythe was more than enough to send the demon spinning and hitting head-first onto the stone wall, dead. Ruby swiftly turns to the two behind her and slices then individually in fluid motions. The Onimusha Huntress eventually cuts the two Jaidos to their deaths before she turns to the last Jaidos. Before the demon has the chance to thrust his blade into her, she aims her scythe to his direction and pulls the trigger, firing an electrical projectile from the mouth-like barrel and through the demon's chest. With a lightning strike of the projectile, the demon hisses in pain before he falls back-first onto the rock. The corpses of the demons vanish into red and black clouds as Ruby absorbs their souls. That's when she hears footsteps behind her and she turns her head to Yang and Blake running into the room.

"Are you alright, Ruby?" Yang asks.

"I'm fine." Ruby answers, "I just ran into some of Tsumi's 'people'."

Suddenly, they all hear snarls of more of the Jaidos Demons coming from deeper into the mines. Wasting no time, they rush into the tunnels to face the Jaidos head-on. One of the Demons made his mistake of being the first around the corner before Yang steps in his way and punches three times into his torso; shotgun blasts explode against his body before the demon falls back with a dying hiss. As the demon's body dissolves, Yang's palm glows golden yellow as she abosrbs the soul herself. When she turns her head to notice another Jaidos coming her way, Blake uses her shadow ability to be there in no time, rushing through the demon and slicing her blade. The Fauna kneels behind the demon's collapsing corpse as she raises her blackened palm, absorbing his soul. She looks up to see more coming their way. Their toes patting onto the wet rocky ground and their weapons raised. At this point, it's taking the cleared right tunnel or the left tunnel crawling with Jaidos. Ruby looks at their choices and chooses the the right. At least they'll have more fighting ground there. And above that, the narrow tunnels make it difficult for them to fight together all at once. So, Yang takes the defense on the back as they retreat to the right tunnel.

Weiss and Ekei make it into the end of the left tunnel, where they first see a shrine built around a scroll. Weiss wouldn't bother reading something in a situation like this, but this scroll looks odd. Japanese writing on sketches of a human warrior with an Oni sword, and something looking like an eye surrounded by two rings in which are decorated with spikes. She picks up the scroll and tries to read it, knowing that it looks important.

"I can't read this." She said, "Could you read it for me?"

"Eh?" Ekei asks before he takes the scroll from Weiss's hands, "Hmmm..."

Weiss waits patiently as the monk reads this scroll.

"To find this demon is to find a mysterious door." Ekei reads, "This strange and nasty demon, created by the pupil of Guildenstern, is named Mozun. Several types of Mozun are created to prevent an invasion of humans. However, certain magical weapons have been known to work well against the mighty Mozun."

"Demons must be using those to prevent us from going deeper, I figure." Weiss replies, "We should find this 'Mozun' after we find Ruby."

Ekei nods, and they both rush out of the left tunnel and to the tunnel where Yang and Blake ran into.

Meanwhile, Yang keeps her ground as she swings fatal punches into each Jaidos's skull. When their numbers prove too much, she quickly absorbs the souls of the deceased before she retreats with her team deeper into the tunnel. Ruby is the first to step into a room in the far end of the tunnel. At the very back of that room, Ruby could see the same Dragon Shrine; only with white eyes. This must be the shrine meant for Weiss. They all hear the Jaidos advancing to them. However, with some more room in this area, Ruby, Yang and Blake prepare to make a flawless comeback. Ruby only notices that some run back, and she realizes that they've turned their attention towards another threat.

Weiss and Ekei stop in the cold and lite room when a few Jaidos stop to notice them. Ekei and Weiss prapare their weapons as they rush in to help their teammates. Ekei thrusts his spear to impale one of the demons as Weiss slice through their torsos as they run by her. The demons disappear into clouds of red and black as The elegant fighter gets pushed back by a Jaidos's kick. Weiss glares at the demons, but her weapon in hand is being kept on the stone ground by one demon's two-toed foot. And another demon leans forward to sink her teeth into Weiss's throat. Ekei swipes away a few more Jaidos when he notices this and pulls something out of his pouch. He yells out a word, and the area around them forms a circle outlined by Japanese words. The Jaidos back away from Weiss as they feel their bodies weakening. Weiss springs to her feet and summons ice to finish them off. She absorbs the souls of the recently dissolved demons as she notices the red words appearing in midair.

"Ekei, what did you do?" She asks.

"Purified Charms." Ekei answers, "They are powerful against those that are evil. They weaken them to the point of dying."

"Well...thank you."

They turn to the remaining Jaidos and run into battle. They run down the right tunnel and mow them down with their weapons. At the very end of the tunnel, Ruby stabs her scythe into the rock and fires an electrical projectile straight through a line of demons. The demons fall to their knee fried and electrified as Yang blasts more with her gauntlets and Blake swings her blades left and right. Through the crowd, Ruby could see Weiss and Ekei cutting through. She also notices a demon soul. This one, however, is purple in color. She raises a hand to absorb it, and her palm turns into a flame of the same color. When she looks up, she watches the group finish off the last of the demons, absorbing demon souls of the ones they killed. Ruby frowns at her palm, and waves the purple flame off before she walks to Weiss. Ekei stabs into the last Jaidos before he turns away.

"Well, that was easy." He said.

"Too easy." Weiss replies before she turns to Ruby, "And YOU. You can't just rush into these mines without us there to back you up."

"I'm sorry." Ruby said, "I just wanted to save that woman. And, Weiss, you have to see this."

Weiss frowns in curiosity as Ruby gestures her to follow, but they hear a call of help from a man running to their direction. This one looks frail and exhausted like that last one that died taking his gold out. This man looks worried about something as he runs up to Ekei.

"Please help!" The man said, "My daugter. They took my daughter! Please, save her!"

"Eh!?" Ekei replies, "Your daughter? Is she...pretty?"

"What? Um...I think she's the most beautiful girl in the world."

"YES! I will take you to safety and find your daughter. First, where did they take her?"

"They went THAT way." The man answers, pointing at the left tunnel.

Ekei nods and gestures him to follow him. He leads him to the safety of the Imasho Town with a smile on his face. At last, THIS is what he is taling about a quest. Yang and Blake watch him leaving as they stare in slight disbelief. Is this really what he's going to be doing? However, Weiss follows Ruby to the white Dragon Shrine, and her palm glows white. At last, it's her turn to get what is required. Though, she had grown loving her weapon, but she didn't hesitate to slide her hand into the mouth of the dragon shrine. The dragon's eyes flash and Weiss's weapon floats into her hands. Weiss's eyes widen as she watches her weapon change in a white flame. And, in her hand, the white flame fades away to reveal a new and shiny blade. The once thin and elegant blade is now a double-edged blade consumed with icy power. The revolver mechanism in the blade has been replaced with a more ancient, metallic part of the weapon replaces it completely. The short handle that her fingers wrap around is more smoothly crafted from wood as the frosty breeze of winter washes over the balde to add a final touch. Weiss gives it a few test swings and thrusts as she tries out her new, more elegant weapon. She smiles a bit by the lack of weight put into this. She turns to Ruby.

"Ruby, me and Ekei had found a scroll that may be important." She said, "It said something about a 'Mozun' deeper in the mines."

"It must be down the left tunnel." Ruby replies.

Weiss nods and they both rush out of the room of the shrine. Yang and Blake were there to notice them passing them before they follow. By the travel down the left tunnel, no demon is in their way as of yet. Not even the Jaidos demons would fade out of thin air to do so. Finally, the girls see, at the end of the tunnel, an odd-looking demon waits for them. This demon fits the description from the scroll, in Weiss's mind. The demon is protected with two rings that have numerous spikes and "arms" surrounding a grey, pulsing organ. It stays in midair as it protects an invisible wall. It seems to have some kind of color specification. By the look on Ruby's scythe, her weapon is blue. The Mozun is greyish white; just like Weiss's weapon. Weiss gestures her teammates to stand back as she prepares to strike upon the demon. She charges forward and swipes her new blade across the Mozun. And by an instant, the demon makes a screeching hiss as it begins to be consumed by surges of electricity and explode. It's much like watching a balloon pop to release a shower of fire crackers before the demon is gone for good.

"Let's go, team." Ruby said as she walks down the newly-opened tunnel, Yang and Blake following.

"You're welcome." Weiss said, annoyed as she follows shortly.

The girls walk down the tunnel leading them deeper into the mines. By a turn to their right, they have bear to witness a stroll passing skulls and skeletons scattered across the ground near the walls. To their horror, working in these mines may be more dangerous in more ways than one. They walk down a step to face a framed tunnel way; with numerous stones in a form of puzzle pieces forming a wall. Ruby frowns at this; just what they need, MORE things blocking their way. That's when she notices a hexagonal display on the wall's right, with a hole big enough for a large jewel to fit into. She walks up to this "keyhole" to read something on the scription. One that reads "Charity". She pulls her orb out of her pouch and narrows her eyes, slowly sliding the orb in. In an instant, Ruby takes a step back when the stones quickly slide out of the way. She and her teammates stare at the stones moving in surprise. Interesting concept. She turns to her team and nods before they all walk into what awaits them. The first thing they hear is the hissing of steam and the metal-against-metal clanking of mechanisms working. They look around to see these mechanics working as gold melt and glow inside them. In a way, it reminds them of the industrial revolution. Little would they know, humans had taken this revolution from the demons. Yang walks to one of them to look inside, until something loud comes to their direction.

"What do you think you are doing!?" A voice yells, "How DARE you invade my territory!?"

Yang backs away from the mechanisms, and the team RWBY turn their heads to the source of the yell. And what they see is a towering demon; larger than any demon they had ran into so far. The monster has a humanlike upper body; bluish-black skin and muscular with an apparent use of a giant pickaxe in his hand. The "human" has mandibles filled with sharp teeth on his cheeks over his normal teeth. A orange ord has been dug into his forehead and his orange hair is tied into a samurai hairstyle. The demon also wears a necklace of three large, green jewels around his neck. His humanoid torso meets with a jaw of teeth as it connects with an arachnid-like lower body; the four legs stepping forward as a blue orb glows with a keen eye. This towering demon is what his kind would know him as Ginghamphatts, the strongest of Nobunaga's army. And, as the girls suspect, this eye on the arachnid pelvis is one of the orbs that they need to gather. The demon leans forward to scan on his tresspassers, only to laugh in amusement.

"Just some puny females." Ginghamphatts mocks, "Why did you come here? Here to praise my work as a demon boss?"

"We're looking for a woman." Ruby answers, "And if you get out of our way, we won't have a quarrel with you."

"And besides, the only thing I would praise would be your uglyness." Yang said, clicking her gauntlets' shotgun barrels.

Ginghamphatts turns to Yang, furious way too quickly. The only way Yang would reply to that is with a smirk. These two are bound to rivals before anyone would know it.

"Who do you think you're talking to!?" He demands, pointing a finger to her, "Do you think you can be equal with one from the Demon Clan!?"

"Not equal...better!" Yang answers, raising her fists into a stance.

Ruby, Weiss and Blake ready their weapons as they prepare to face the demon. Ginghamphatts, not the one to take humans seriously, laughs once more. They are confident in fighting him, but they are still mere insects to Demons. They just don't know it yet. He makes a hard grip on his pickaxe as he turns to the girls.

"You amuse me, puny females." He said before he raises his weapon, "I shall enjoy killing you!"

And with that, Ginghamphatts raises his weapon with both hands before he makes a battle cry. He brings the pickaxe down upon Yang, but Yang jumps back to avoid the explosive impact it caused on the mine grounds. Blake forms her one blade into a form of a pistol and fires numerous round at the demon, only to not even faze him. Ruby and Weiss rush in, and Ginghamphatts notices them to be sliced relentlessly with their Oni weapons. Ginghamphatts steps back when he feels the damage they made and watch as blood spill on the ground. Only weapons like these are powerful enough to wound demons like him. The two girls jump away as he swings his weapon left and right, before Blake turns her gun back into a blade and prepares to fight. Ginghamphatts grins as the blue orb on his lower body glows, causing it to suck in air-and pulling Blake closer! Blake struggles as she tries to dig her feet into the rocky ground before she looks up at a raised pickaxe. Before the demon could end her with one swipe, Yang jumps in and tackles her out of the demon's way. Blake's body hits the ground before she turns her head to see Yang holding Ginghamphatts's weapon back. Their glares clash like sparks as their strengths seem to be matched.

"Do you really think you're stronger than me!?" Ginghamphatts asks.

Yang could only answer with a smug before she ducks under the weapon and blasts her gauntlets upon the demon's torso. The powerful shotgun blasts are powerful enough to push the demon back, and Ginghamphatts growls in anger when the blasts are enough to draw blood. He thrusts his pickaxe forward to pound Yang away, only for Yangs to land on her heels effortlessly. Ruby and Weiss turn to each other, knowing that their weapons alone will not be able to defeat him. They concentrate on their weapons, and the blades glow blue and white as they prepare for their combined attack. Ginghamphatts laughs as he jumps as far up as his four legs could muster. And as he lands on his feet, it feels as if the entire world is shaking. The ceiling crumbles as several boulders fall over them. Ruby and Weiss move out of the way as boulders crumble by every impact. And as Yang looks up, Blake defends her as she swings her whip across the air around them. She moves her arms in fluid motions before she kneels in a pose; every boulder exploding into pebbles behind her.

Both Yang and Blake look up at Ginghamphatts raising his weapon upon them once more, but Ruby and Weiss were ready. With Ruby's scythe bathed in electricity and Weiss's blade bathed in ice, they both smile at each other before glaring at the demon. With rose petals and snowflakes they leave behind in their high-speed rush, they swing their weapons upon the monster. Weiss swings down to freeze Ginghamphatts's body; or the ice forming a vest that keeps his arms and waist restrained. Then, before the demon could react, Ruby jumps into midair as she swings her Thunderous Rose left and right in high-speed motions. Electricity and thunderous explosions are left behind from every attack on him; seeming like she can go on forever and without mercy. With one final cry, Ruby Rose swings it down one last time to send a powerful stream of lightning upon him. As ice shatters off of Ginghamphatts, and as Ruby and Weiss jump away, Yang makes a final cry of her own. She pounds both of her gauntlets onto his abs and the resulting impact sends the demon across the industrial chamber. Rock, gold and small metal rain down upon the demon's body when he finally hits back-fist into one gold-melting mechanism. With that powerful attack brought upon him, he collapses as his body feels too weak to continue fighting. Before he would leave this world, temporaily, he sits up to glare at the girls.

"You got lucky, puny females!" He said through his coughs, "But don't worry...I'll be BACK!"

He and Yang share glares by then.

"And I'm coming for YOU first."

And with that, he collapses onto the ground, dead. And as his arachnid legs fall limply onto the ground, the mechanisms around them suddenly grow dark and dead, unable to work any more. Yang watches as the demon's body disappears and fades to the underwolrd. She couldn't wait until their next run-in. As numerous souls erupt out of where his body once was, the girls raise their hands to absorb them. Ruby turns her head to the tunnel at the far end of the chamber.

"I'm going to check in that tunnel." She said, "Can you girls wait here?"

Weiss nods, and Ruby walks down the tunnel as her weapon disappears into her pouch. She walks down the tunnel and looks upon every gold ore as she passes them, until she notices something out of the ordinary. She frowns when she sees some kind of metallic shrine or display onto the turn of the tunnel. This thing has a bronze, odd-looking cap with a hole that looks like a ring could fit into it. And red dots travel across the metallic display that look like some sort of star outline. She puzzles about what it is; until she hears weak grunts and heavy breathing coming from her left. She turns her head to a man, lying on the ground and breathing weakly. With shocked eyes, she rushes to the man, and lets the man look up at her weakly and desperately.

"Are you alright?" She asks, concerned.

The man turns his head away, and then shakes his head.

"The monsters forced us to work in the mines..." He said, "As slaves. I am the only one who survived. Everyone else died from exhaustion."

To Ruby's fright, she watches him lump to his left before she grips onto him.

"Stay with me, sir!" She said, keeping him focused, "Yang! I need help!"

And after a minute, Yang rushes in to see what happened. Once she sees the dying man, she reaches forward to help the man up and walk out of the tunnel with him. Ruby watches them leave before she looks at the metallic object one more time. She then shakes her head and walks behind them. Now's not the time to solving riddles. Now's the time to save this man.

* * *

Hello, everyone! This is PsychoReptile, and that concludes our Chapter Four! Now, I want to explain what took me so long.

First off, I was sick for a couple of days and Claire took her time to take care of me. Secondly, I had a kind of a thought conflict. Meaning, I was thinking WAY too far on what this series was going to be like only because we were having so much fun doing it. Writing about RWBY and reliving our old video game flame was and is really fun for us to do now. Thirdly, well, Thanksgiving. Happy late Thanksgiving, by the way!

Now, we didn't really expect as many people to be reading this as there were. So, being the generous authors that we are, we are planning to write TWO chapters instead of one the next time we publish these. You're welcome.

So, thank you guys for reading this! Be sure to follow this series if you haven't already. And as always, this is you-know-who sighing off!


	6. Chapter 5: Entering a New World

Chapter Five: Entering a New World

* * *

The girls didn't have any enemy in their path escorting the dying man out of the mines. It was a while before they finally came to the Imasho village. They had a run-in with Ekei and Magoichi, who both agreed to go into the mines and find this "missing daughter". With a rush to the tavern and paying for the food and drink with the gold they got, they took the man upstairs to help the old man recover. For about a while, if not for hours, Ruby and Weiss sit side-by-side as they talk with the frail man as he eats his salmon and rice and drink his tea. Talk about a woman they have seen waling into the mines, but didn't catch up to her. The man finally puts down the empty cup and pushes the tray back to them, which now has a salmon all but bone and a head. Seeing the man smile, finally being able to eat since he was forced to work in the mines, brings a smile on Ruby's innocent face. The man shares a gaze with both girls before he bows his head to the point of his forehead touching the hay-covered floor. With the hay-covered upper floor, a portion of the second floor is purposed as a place for a fire under a black, iron tea pot. A door to Ruby's right leads to a wooden balcony, giving a view of the town below. Whereas multiple tables and sea-stitched blankets are placed some parts of the room.

"Thank you." The man said, "I feel fine now. By the way, the woman you are looking for might have been taken to the hole."

Ruby and Weiss look at each other. It apparently didn't take long for that woman to be taken captive, but they've never seen a hole in the mines. Ruby frowns a bit as she turns back to the man.

"The hole?" She asks.

"Yes." The man answers, nodding, "It's inside the gold mine, but the opening is blocked. There is one way to open this hole."

The man looks down for a moment to pull something that was stringed up to his pants. And to Ruby and Weiss's eyes, he holds up a red, large object the shape of a doughnut. The thing has odd designs to it. The man keeps his gaze to Ruby, looking at her right in the eye as he smiles.

"Take this to open the cover." He said.

"What is that?" Weiss asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, exactly, but you can put this onto the cover somehow. I just found it lying on the ground and I kept it."

Ruby and Weiss look at each other, uncertain. They turn their heads back to the man placing the ring on the ground and pushing it towards them.

"Please. Take it."

After a moment of silence, Ruby picks up the ring and holds it up to her silver eyes. She frowns a bit again, thinking of the golden mass of metal she found before she found the man. She turns to Weiss, and the white huntress gives her a casual shrug of confusion.

"Was it that gold thing we found in the mines?" She asks, turning back to the man, "With the orange lights?"

"Yes." The man answers, getting up, "I have to go now... Thank you."

The man turns away and walks to the top of the staircase. Ruby and Weiss watch him, before the man turns back to them and gives them one final bow. Weiss, being an elegant member of her family, decides to give a respectful bow back. As the man walks downstairs, Ruby looks down at the red ring, staring at it for what felt like minutes. The design explains the odd form of the cover's top, considering that the form looked like a ring could be put into it. She turns to Weiss, and with a confident look, she nods with a smile.

Meanwhile...

Blake takes a good look-around on the outside of the tavern. She can tell that the architecture here isn't as good as the high-class temples or back at Beacon, but the statues and the talismans certaintly are. When she first walked into the area, the first thing that greeted her was the same temple-like shrine they saw back at Yagyu Village. The shrine has a mirror, which shines in its apparent divine influence. There is a few boards leaning against a wall, but it doesn't bother her as much as other things. What amazes her the most is a beautiful shed, with a wooden statue of a Japanese warrior. Under her bow, though, her ears begin to twitch when she hears something from inside the shed.

"Hello, there." A voice said.

Blake turns to the statue, and she could've sworn that statues don't talk.

"I know that you and your friends want to kill Nobunaga. That's fine by me. I will assist you."

Blake frowns, keeping a hand on her weapon.

"Who are you?" She asks.

By an instant, a young man steps from behind the statue to reveal herself to her. The young man, or rather an older teenage boy, has a blue shirt and pants under his dark brown leather arm pads. With the small shoulder pads and arm braces made of leather, his large belt keeps his hip leather armor protects his ninja-trained body. His legs are protected with metal knee braces and ninja sandals on his feet. His dark brown hair sports a blue head-band made of cloth that has flower-like patterns. And finally, he wears an orange scarf around his neck. He smiles as he steps forward to Blake's presence.

"Kotaro Fuma." The boy answers, "The young chief of the ninja group that the Hojo Clan retains."

Blake keeps her calm expression as she takes her hand away from her weapon's hilt.

"Ninja, huh?" She asks, smiling a bit.

"Anyway, let me give you some advice." Kotaro said as he steps down the small steps, "Watch out for that woman you are after. She is no ordinary woman."

"What do you mean?"

"She might be an agent of the Oda Clan. I admit, you girls do a well job of helping people, but don't let HER be your top priority."

Blake stares at him for a minute, and then looks away, thinking. It does make sense, but not all of what he says adds up. Can't just go around accusing someone of being an agent for the most vile clan of all of Japan. Kotaro turns away and strolls to the doorway of the tavern.

"I'll expose her true identity." He said, "You just wait."

Before Blake could say anything, Kotaro walks away into the tavern. She follows his eventually to watch him walking upstairs. And she notices Ruby and Weiss walking down the stairs, with Ruby having the red ring in her pouch. In the tavern, as well, Yang was just having an arm wrestle with a man before she wins while pushing him off of a bench. Yang rests her palms on her hips and makes a victorious hum; wheras multiple people fall in shock to see a girl beating the crap out of arm-wrestlers. She turns her head to Ruby, Weiss and Blake walking pass her, and she gives a bow to her "peeps" before following her team shortly. Ruby leads her team out of the town and straight to the stairs leading to the gold mine. Now that she knows what they are suppose to do, they surely won't have any issuses going to where that woman went.

When they enter the forest, when it's quiet even to the standards of the village, Blake's ears hear something. The sounds of blades scratching against each other. Blake turns her head, and Ruby notices this and looks at the forest ahead. Immediately, they see pale figures jumping out of the woods and landing perfectly on the ground below their bare feet. Their feminine bodies only have scaled flesh and wrapping leather straps up their arms, legs. Two more straps form an "X" on each of their chests, which doesn't seem to have breasts like human females would have. Their arm braces, with silver diamonds running up them, were built to hold arm blades the length of their arms. Their faces, as demonic as they are, are protected with masks looking like porcelain feminine faces as they tilt their heads here-and-there. Ruby and Weiss summons their orbs, and creating their Oni weapons as they prepare to fight back. Yang and Blake raise their own weapons when two more, oddly enough, burst out of the earth like drills. Yang narrows her eyes as she charges straight to her enemy. The Musaid in front of her jumps back once her shotgun mechanism explodes. Blake dodges to her right when the Musaid in front of her slashes its blade downward. Taking the advantage, she kicks the demon back and swings her blade and scabbard left and right. Because the demon was staggering, it didn't had a chance to deflect Blake's attacks before it finally falls back with a dying cry. Ruby and Weiss use their speed to compete with the Musaids in front of them. Ruby swings her scythe, but the Musaid jumps over it and swings its blades. Ruby disappears into a puff of rose petals, teleporting behind the demon and driving the blade across its spine. Weiss thrusts her Oni blade foward, but the ninja-like Musaid steps aside and swings its blade. Weiss summons a barrier to deflect it, and her weapon bathes in icy-white power. She thrust forward as her new weapon unleashes a straight line of freezing magic.

She smiles a bit at the Musaid, which was transformed into a statue made of ice. She kicks the statue, shattering it into shards. She nods just as the Musaid fighting Ruby falls to the ground; dead. Ruby lands on her feet and makes her weapon disappear back into her Charity orb. They raise their hands to absorb their souls before they both turn to Blake standing over and absorbs its soul. The Musaid dealing with Yang only had a longer time before Yang took a reflex and pounds a shotgun blast into its skull. The sheer force pounds the life out of the demon as it drops to the ground like a brick. Yang smiles as she raises a hand, absorbing its soul before the team moves on to walking up to the entry of the cave. Weiss could only feel a bit better when they see the guard of the mine not being there anymore. They move into the gold mine to go through an uneventful stroll further down the mines. Yang notcies the red ring in Ruby's pouch, and she raises an eyebrow.

"What's with the ring?" She asks.

"This...is suppose to be a key to this hole?" Ruby answers, not sure of this fact, "Apparently, that woman went into this hole and we won't be able to get into it without this."

"We're going deep into that Alice in the Wonderland cliche, huh?" Blake asks.

Ruby smiles brightly at that. That is when they hear a scream of a man, and they hurry down the tunnel. When they make it to the source of the screaming, where Ruby first encountered the Jaidos, they see a man being strangled by another new demon. Unlike the Musaid, this demon is much taller and having less flesh. Mainly just a skeleton beast, the demon has a large horn on the top of its skull-like head. His body is protected with armor over its upper body and its upper thighs. The demon could be revealed to have a purple, flaming orb that acts as the skeletal demon's life source. And finally, in its hand, the demon wields a cleaver the size of a broadsword as it prepares to cut the man in two. The demon, or "Commander", is accompanied by two Musaids as they notice the girls in the room. The commander doesn't notice until it was too late when Ruby slices upward, forcing the demon to let go of the man. As the man falls on his back, he quickly gets up and runs away to where the girls came from. The commander barks an order, and the Musaid sprint to its aid. Weiss and Blake charge in to fight with the feminine demons as Ruby allows Yang to charge in and pound her fists against the commander. The skeletal demon staggers a few steps back, but glares down at her as it raises a blade into the air. Yang raises her gauntlets to block the heavy weapon, and the blow didn't even bring her to her knees. This allows Ruby to step off the ground, jump off the demon's blade, and aims the dragon barrel of her scythe. The commander was taken by surprise when Ruby's Thunder Rose unleashes an electrical round with the force of a 50 Caliber sniper rifle. Aimed or the demon's skull, the demon dies when the round punches through and sends an electrical shockwave into the earth. With Ruby landing on her feet behind the commander, the demon falls to its knees and desolves into black and red smoke. Yang smiles at Ruby before she notices another of those commanders strolling at the end of the tunnel ahead. The demon notices Blake and Weiss dropping the Musaid with their weapons, and it then notices Ruby just now killing its fellow commander. Just as Ruby raises her head to look up at it, Yang charges in to pound the demon's blade aside. And the blade was about to land its target if Yang didn't blast it out of the commander's hand. The commander makes a ghostly growl as it turns to her, until Yang sends multiple shotgun blasts into its ribcage. The sheer force of the blasts eventually bring the demon down. The girls absorb the souls of the slaughtered demons when Yang hears chatter from the left tunnel. Ruby and Weiss frown at each other before they walk down that tunnel to find the source of that chatter.

"Magoichi, you fool!" Ekei yells, angry at him yet again.

The monk stands behind Magoichi strolling down the rocky tunnel, his spear in his hand. Magoichi turns back to him, making a scoff as he carries his rifle on his shoulder. He watches the monk tighten his grip on his spear as he charges forward.

"I won't forgive you!" Ekei yells.

He swings down his spear, but Magoichi steps aside, dodging it as he moves behind him. Proving the monk to be too slow even in close range, Magoichi steps away from Ekei's second attempt. He does it once more when a third attempt fails. Ekei glares back at Magoichi as he quickly turns and raises his spear. Magoichi raises his gun to blast a round into his stomach.

"Cut it out already!" Weiss yells.

Both men stop and turn their heads to the girls just walking into their scene. They lower their weapons when Weiss gives them a dark look. Ekei simply turns away as he keeps his spear against his hip.

"You two are like children." She said to them coldly, "Ekei, have you found that man's daughter?"

"Not yet." Ekei answers.

"Why are you wasting your time doing THIS?" Ruby demands.

"I have to settle this first." Ekei said as he turns back to them, "I dreamed of becoming a feudal lord. I would do anything to make that happen. Anything!"

Ruby, and then the girls, fall in shock by the emphasis of "anything". Magoichi turns his head to him, only to not be surprised as he was before he heard this dream.

"You would even kill innocent people?" Blake asks.

"Yes." Ekei answers, "The point is Magoichi laughed at my dream!"

"I laughed because it's silly." Magoichi replies, "Do you girls have dreams?"

"Well, I dream of becoming a powerful huntress." Ruby answers, "With my sister and my friends. I dream of getting rid of monsters from our world just the same as Oni would to the demons."

Magoichi turns away when he hears all of it. History does repeat itself one way or another. He lays his gun on his shoulder as he strolls down the tunnel ahead.

"So, another filled with vengeful ghosts." He said before laughing.

"Vengeful ghosts?" Ekei asks, "What do you mean? Magoichi!"

He follows him shortly, them both disappearing in the tunnel. The girls look at each other before they stroll down the path after them. Ruby, however, suddenly falls in confusion when she thinks of what Magoichi said. Vengeful ghosts? What does killing Grimm and stopping an acient evil so related to ghosts? Her moment of wondering about this question goes on as they stroll down the tunnel. However, her eyes flash in surprise when they hear loud gunfire coming from Magoichi. The girls rush to the chamber, where they once defeated Ginghamphatts. Yang wonders if the bastard of a demon had came back to run the place again. Except it is something new once again.

For what they now encounter is a handful of new demons. The human-sized demons look reptilian, but not like the Jaidos that the monsters took pleasure in breaking. These monsters are completely different. Their bodies have orange-colored flesh with large, red spikes running down their backs. The lesser soldiers have their mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth, but they lack of eyes. They wear their own black, worn armor protecting their arms, torsos, lower bodies and even the ankles of their three-toed feet. Each of these demons, "Rollers", wields a sword that looks built to be cleavers. At least four of these monsters accompany a larger, more built kind of demons. Being in the room in a pair, these "Ogres" have dark yellow skin under their violet pants and X-formed chains over their chests. Their heads mainly sport a pair of horns, along with black helmets covering all but their four "eyes". They both wield giant battleaxes as one of them bashes the end of the handle against the earth. The one demon that disturbs the girls, however, is the one at the near end of the room. A spider-like, pale creature that appears to be attaching itself to the opening of the room's exit, blocking their way to "The Hole". It reveals its front profile, showing multiple green eyes and mouths, before covering them with its six limbs. The "Gate Keeper" seems to be something that the girls do not want to mess with too soon.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang ready their weapons. With a take-out of their orbs, Ruby and Weiss summon their Oni weapons and prepare their coordinated attack. As Magoichi raises his gun and fires, Ekei makes a stance with his spear and thrusts forward into the gut of one of the Rollers. The Roller cries out when the monk thrust his spear multiple times before it falls back in its death. One of the Rollers roar out, revealing its long red tongue and human-like inner teeth before it shows why it looks so hunched. With a jump into midair, the demon curls into a spiked ball and rolls straight to Magoichi. Magoichi, thinking fast, raises his gun and fires, blasting the Roller back. Another rolls sraight to the gunman, but Weiss gets in the way and summons a barrier. Not being any different from the warthog-lime Wesen back at home, her barrier forces the Roller to bounce back. This gives Weiss the opening she needed, and she dashes forward as she slices her "Icenaster" across the demon's torso. While the Roller falls to the floor dead, she charges straight to one of the Orges with Blake following suit. Ruby and Yang focus on the main threat, in their opinion. Weiss dodges to her right when the Ogre smashes his axe onto the rocky floor. Blake jumps onto the handle of the axe and runs upward to reach the demon's shoulder. As Blake forms her blade into pistol mode and fires her rounds into the Ogre's head, Weiss slashes the beast in its sides. The demon growls as each of Blake's rounds pierce its skull, and it could only see Weiss's blade shining in a white glow before she unleashes her line of magic. Yang clenches her fists as she charges straight to the Gate Keeper, ready to blast her shots into the repulsive demon. However, the Gate Keeper opens its limbs, and Yang is suddenly being pulled off her feet by the demon sucking her in. Ruby falls shock when the Gate Keeper traps Yang in its embrace, and Yang grits her teeth when she is bathed in a surge of orange electricity. Ruby realizes a shadow over her, and she jumps back when the other Ogre brings his axe down. Ruby watches the axe create pebbles and sparks, and she readies her scythe in her hands.

Suddenly, Magoichi's gun glows red, and he grins. As Ruby turns her head to the two warriors, Magoichi and Ekei charge in. With more Rollers spawning out of their blue portals, Ekei is quick to throw a purified charm onto the ground. This forces the demons to grow weak and dying before Magoichi's powered gun blasts them apart. And as Weiss and Blake leave the Orge frozen as a statue, one round from the gunman completely obliterates it into shards. Ruby smiles as she watches the Ogre in front of her prepare to chop her in half. She pulls the trigger, and her scythe pushes her off the ground, allowing her to send a fast and poweful strike through the demon's cody. The strike slices the Ogre's arm off, and the demon staggers back. Taking advantage of this opening, Ruby transfers her power into the blade. With electricity surging across the blade once again, she slashes across the Orge's body. Each of her slashes creates a surge of electricity before the demon finally staggers back a couple of steps. As the demon falls and dessolves into smoke, Ruby turns her head to Yang being trapped in the Gate Keeper's grip. That is until Yang pounds her gauntlets against the limbs and blast them into pieces. With the Gate Keeper releasing her, the now-angry huntress prepares to blast the demon into oblivian. She lands a direct hit into the middle of its body, and the demon fades into black before it dissolves into the same matter.

Ruby and her team quickly absorb the souls of the slaid demons. Magoichi and Ekei lower their weapons and take a minute of a breather. Ruby smiles, now that the issue has been removed. She leads her team down to the opening of the tunnel with Magoichi and Ekei following shortly. Down the tunnel, Ruby can see the golden cover of the hole. She smiles as she pulls the red ring out of her pouch, with the faces of confusion from Ekei and Magoichi. She kneels in front of the ring-shaped form on top and places the ring into that form. Just as she puts it there, she quickly stands up when the ring itself and the orange "stars" shine bright orange. Soon, the stars form a Big Dipper before the golden top itself slides to one side. This reveals a misty opening of the hole, along with a transparent cylinder in a function of a wormhole. Ruby smile at her team and the two warriors, and she begins to take the first step into the wormhole. Suddenly, they hear growls and the hisses of demons spawning in the other room. They all turn to the source of that sound; incoming demons. Ekei and Magoichi turn their heads to each other and ready their weapons.

"Go." Magoichi said, "We'll hold them off. We'll catch up to you eventually."

Ruby nods, and she quickly steps into the portal itself. Ekei and Magoichi has proven that they can handle themselves when fighting those monsters. All she can see is a blinding flash, until she appears somewhere else.

Ruby opens her eyes, and she finds that she isn't in the gold mine anymore. She finds herself in a cave, with a wall closely behind her. With a long scan on her surroundings, she sees a pair of demonic pillars. These demonic pillars, while leaking flames, sport a statue on each of them. Each of these statues looks like a built warrior with a very small head. Spike protrude out of their shoulders and thighs. Each of them wields a club in both of its hand, but seems to be in no condition to stop her from advancing. With cone-shaped stone hanging on the cave's ceiling and with a metallic double door between the statues, Ruby takes a step forward. She hears footsteps as she turns around, seeing Weiss, Blake and Yang appearing behind her. They all know that the men will be fine without them, and Ruby leads her team down the stoned floor. Even with the silence and the fact that no demons are in here to stop them, she doesn't like it. Just as she gets closer to the door, the eyes of the statue at their right lights up red. Ruby and her team quickly turn to it when the statue releases a demonic laugh.

"You!" It said, "What are YOU doing here? Don't you know it's a demon world!?"

Before Ruby could answer, the statue at their left has its eyes glowing as well.

"As you are going to die soon, why not now!?" The other statue demands before both of them laugh.

As both of their eyes grow dark once more, a blue portal spawns a much larger demon than before. The repulsive, built demon steps forward and reveals its dark blue flesh. The demon wears its leather, furred arm and leg braces as it also wears a rather primitive combat cilt. Along with its squarish head, the Guardian sports a pair of tusks, black eyes and the only part of its hair formed into a chonmage. Ruby and her team get to their stances when the demon grabs its huge club and advances towards them with the weapon in both its hands. With Ruby and Yang in front, Weiss and Blake has the back when another Guardian spawns behind them. The first Guardian raises its club, preparing to crush Ruby and Yang under its might. Ruby disappears into a puff of roses as Yang jumps to her left, both avoiding the club smashing into the earth. Before the demon knew it, Ruby teleports over it and swings her scythe in quick, multiple motions. Yang goes to the demon's front and punches the hands holding the club. The shotgun blasts force the demon to let go as blood spray out of its hands, and it staggers forward when Ruby's lightning strikes eventually bring it down. Ruby soon lands on her feet in front of the door. And just as the Guardian was about to get back up, Yang pounds another shotgun blast into its skull, finishing it. Weiss and Blake make short work on the second one. Weiss uses her Oni blade to summon a line of freezing magic, freezing it legs into place. Blake jumps and throws the whip attachment of her blade. She quickly zips straight to the demon and slashes it with both weapons in her hands. The demon raises its club to block a few blows, but it couldn't block all of them. As Blake lays a foot on the Guardian's chest and jumps back, Weiss sends another line of freezing magic. And the demon becomes weak enough to be vulnerable to this magic, as it instantly freezes into a statue like all the others. After letting the statue shatter and the team absorb their souls, the red barrier on the doors fade away.

Ruby, being front of the doors, pushes them open. And she stares in awe at the room that instantly greets her. The rooms that these monsters make just keep getting more and more disturbing, but magnificent all at once. The room itself is mostly dark, with the stoned walls and few misty and green lights up a pillar. This pillar is built with a spiraling skeleton of a snake; big enough to be a staircase to get to an opening upstairs. The skeleton itself has individual ribs being separate from the spinal cord steps, and the ribs are formed in an upward, teeth-like fashion. Ruby only stares for what felt like an eternity before she notices the other girls staring up at that skeleton staircase.

"So...I guess we have to walk up THAT." Yang said, breaking the silence.

"Yup." Ruby answers.

"In our only way to get to this woman and whatever else is up there?" Weiss asks.

"I guess so." Blake answers.

After a moment of silence, Ruby leads her team up the stairs made of bone and stone. They walk up the steps, and Blake looks down to realize how far off the ground they actually are getting on these steps. That is until they make it to the opening, which looks more like jaws of a predator. Ruby looks at the opening made of large stone-made teeth as she steps out into the surface. She looks to her left and right to see a large ribcage that was apparently built in front of the stairway. She looks around as she stroll off of the bone-made padio. She realizes that they're now in some kind of courtyard of an ancient Japanese castle, and they are surrounded by walls capped with the Japanese-styled rooves. There is a double doors in front of her and a door to her left. It is only when Weiss, Blake and Yang follow her when Weiss looks up at something beyond the Gifu Castle. And each of the other girls, especially Ruby, turn their heads and their eyes widen in shock. Right by the Gifu Castle is a structure that's completely different. A thin tower supporting a structure that is made of a mass of stone and flesh. With flesh and red hanging from this structure, and the "roof" of it pale grey, this structure was made with a bloody bridge connecting it with the castle itself. Ruby doesn't know for sure, but she somehow knows that Nobunaga is in that structure. She...can somehow sense it. Maybe it's her Oni power or something.

Suddenly, Ruby hears a growl, and she turns her head to see a Jaidos pushing the double doors in front of her open. She raises her weapon, but just as the Jaidos was about to attack, it is shot down by a shotgun blast. The Jaidos falls onto his back, dead. Ruby turns around, as well as the other girls, to see Magoichi holding up his gun. His rifle snakes smoke out of the barrel before he lays the weapon on his shoulder. And just then, Ekei slowly makes it to the top of the steps, breathing heavily and laying his hands on his knees as soon as he makes it.

"Told you we'd catch up." Magoichi said with a smirk.

The corrupted Jaidos disappears into a cloud of black and red as Magoichi strolls past Ruby. Yang walks to Ekei and raises a hand to pat his back, but the monk raises a hand, assuring that he's alright. He just needs to catch his breath. Magoichi turns his head to look up at the repulsive structure ahead.

"Ruby." He said as he turns to her, "You remember our conversation ealier. About the vengeful ghosts."

"Yeah." Ruby replies.

"What were you talking about?" Weiss asks.

"I...used to be a warrior and a feudal lord I served lost a great battle." Ekei answers, standing straight, "At that time, my wife and child..."

Before he could finish, he cuts himself off, attempting to fight back the sorrow. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang all turn their heads to the monk, fearing for the worst.

"Anyway, despite that incident, he still holds on to his stupid dream." Magoichi said, ignoring a glare from Ekei, "But even if his dream comes true and he becomes a feudal lord, another battle will occur and many people will die."

Magoichi startles Ruby by quickly turning around to face her. He bears his serious look as he carries his gun.

"The same to you girls." He said coldly, "If you should destroy the leader of your enemy, in your time, another will rise to take its place. It never ends."

As a thought gets its way into Ruby's mind, Magoichi walks away. The Grimm in their time might be the same as the demons. Should they be fighting against the enemy, only for that war to never end? Like if the Grimm were to be annihilated, would it finally come to an end or will another race of evil take their place? She blinks that thought out for now, and she turns her head to the double doors. The entry doors of the castle. She strolls up to the doors with her team following shortly, and she takes a minute before pushing the doors open. Inside the castle, they could see that the building itself has seen better years. The first floor of the room has another pair of doors ahead of them. A smaller door at that double doors' right. The upper floor, however, has its walkways mostly destroyed. A stoned catwalk links the doors of the upper floor to another door at the near corner to their left. Ruby pulls out her orb and summons her scythe when she hears the hissing of the demonic portals. The portals release more of the Jaidos that they have seen in the mines. She readies her weapon, as well as her team who had just entered the room. As soon as a Jaidos moves in, Ruby slashes it with multiple fluid-like strikes. Weiss is quick to cover when when she slashes another with her rapier. Blake looks up to see a Jaidos with a bow and arrow, watching it aim at Ruby. Under her bow, her cat ears lower as she uses her agility to reach it. She runs to the collapsed walkway at their right, and she makes quick jumps over every edge she could land her foot on. As soon as she reaches the upper floor, she takes out her blade and runs straight to the archer Jaidos. The reptilian soldier notices her and draws an arrow aimed for her. The arrow is fired, only for Blake to dodge it quick and makes a quick slash through the Jaidos. The archer makes a dying hiss as it falls onto its back. Two more Jaidos fall dead once Ruby and Weiss made quick work on them. When one decides to make a drop behind them, Yang was there to pound the soldier down to the ground. Ruby looks up at Blake, who was absorbing the souls of the fallen Jaidos.

"Blake, check the upper floor." She said, "We'll meet up when we find a staircase there."

Blake nods, and she quickly opens the double doors behind her. Ruby watches Yang and Ekei rush past her and open the double doors in front of them. In an instant, more of the Jaidos appear out of thin air at their left and right. However, Weiss and Magoichi are there to cover the team with launced freezing magic and good old-fashioned bullets. In the room behind the double doors, another of the Gate Keepers guards the door ahead; with a couple of Musaids accompanying it. With Weiss and Magoichi dealing with the Jaidos, Yang and Ekei move in to deal with the freak guarding the door. With experience, Yang knows that the Gate Keeper would suck in her or Ekei. She is given the confirmation when the spider-like creature opens its limbs and sucks her in. However, Ruby stops it by firing an electrical round into its face. Ekei grabs a glowing blue object and throws it at a Musaid. The object instantly sticks onto the demon's gut before the monk clenches his fist. This action causes the object to explode in a puff a mist, and the Musaid dies instantly. The other Musaid rushes straight to Ruby, and she quickly slices it in half before firing another round into the Gate Keeper. The round hits the demon in an electrical level just as Yang charges in and pounds a shotgun round into it. The Gate Keeper fades into black, like before, and dissolves into a cloud of smoke. Yang is quick to absorb the souls of the fallen when a Musaid drops from the ceiling. It happens to be right at Ekei's left when the monk swipes it off its feet with his spear. Another erupts out of the floor in front of Yang, and she gives short work as she bashes her fist against its face. The mask shatters right before her gauntlet unleashes a shotgun blast, killing the Musaid. Ruby turns her head to see Ekei finishing the other demon by thrusting his spear into its chest. She quickly absorbs the Musaid's soul before they advance into another room.

They move through a hallway as they make it to another door at their left. Going pass that another double doors, they rush into another hallway where they would instantly see another pair of doors. These doors, however, seem locked by a green, spider-like stoned mechanism just as large as the doors themselves. This mechanism, when Ruby gives a close inspection, seems to be unlocked by something that could be put in. She could sense that someone is in there. She turns to Yang, who has her hands on her hips as she scans the doors, too.

"We're gonna need to find what could open this thing." Ruby said.

"Then we should sweep the castle." Ekei replies, "It be where it could look demon-ish."

Ruby nods in agreement before she leads them to a door at the very end of the hallway at their right. They open the door, and they could see a door in front of them and a path to a staricase at their right. While Ruby and Ekei rush upstairs, Yang decides to open the door in front of her.

She finds herself in a much smaller room, which has a well framed with wooden planks and has a chain built to pull the bucket up. However, she can also see a dead man sitting in front of the well. She takes a step closer, scanning the room's shelves, when she feels something cold. She couldn't tell what it is, until her eyes widen to see something appearing out of thin air. Over the dead man, a ghost of the man appears in front of her. She stands completely still, but she her fear quickly fades away; considering that the ghost isn't attacking her. Yet. The ghost bears a depressed expression on his face as he stares directly at her.

"You can see me, can't you?" The ghost asks.

"Well, you seem transparent, but yeah." Yang answers.

"You must have known about Nobunaga. As I do. I was sent to Gifu Castle as a scout, and I was caught and killed here. And now, I have been caught in the evil energy haunting this well."

"Probably not the best job to work yourself to death, huh?"

"I like to give you something, but I can't even do that now. However, if you can obtain a purify charm, then maybe we can help each other!"

The ghost says nothing else, with Yang looking to a different direction, thinking.

"Purify charm, getting rid of a ghost." Yang said to herself, "Check."

Meanwhile...

Ruby and Ekei rush upstairs, and they instantly see Blake finishing off a couple of Musaids. Blake raises a hand to absorb their souls before she turns her head to notice Ruby and Ekei. She turns her head to something in the room, and Ruby and Ekei follow her gaze. They see a crate with a basket placed on it. Ruby walks up to Blake when they all hear crying of a baby. Ruby turns her head to the basket in surprise, with Ekei narrowing his eyes. The crying continues as Ruby walks up to the basket. Next to her, Blake sheathes her blade. Apparently, Blake was protecting the baby from the Musaids. Knowing that the baby needs to get out of here, Ruby nods to Blake, and Blake picks the baby in her arms. They suddenly hear footsteps coming upstairs, and they all turn to see the same man they ran into in the mines rushing in with widen eyes.

"I think this is daughter." Blake said.

"It is!" The man replies excitedly as he rushes to her, "Omiyo..."

Blake lets the man take the baby from her. The man holds the baby in his arms as he whispers "my baby" more than once. Ruby and Blake smile, but Ekei falls into shock. The man turns to the girls and gives them a bow of his head.

"Thank you!" He said, "Thank you very much!"

"What!?" Ekei said, stepping back a step, "When you said daughter, you didn't mean baby daughter, did you!?"

To Ekei's disappointed shock, Ruby and Blake couldn't help but hold back their laughs. Suddenly, laughs from Magoichi and Weiss echo the room as they walk into the room.

"That is cute AND too good." Weiss said.

"I have to admit." Magoichi said, "She is VERY cute. Hold her tight, Ekei."

With that the gunman pats Ekei on his shoulder. Ekei turns away and holds his temple, as if he's having a huge headache. He walks away as he whispers a long "no", with the girls still smiling at his "apparent defeat". The crying still can be heard as the man tries to calm it down, and Ekei stops in his tracks. The monk turns his head to the baby, and he smiles. That is when he sees something that appeared in his head. And Ruby starts to notice his look. In his eyes, he could see the baby being consumed in fire as the baby continues to cry. And his eyes widen in fear. Before anyone could react, Ekei quickly rushes to the baby and snatches it out of the man's arms. He turns his back on everyone as he holds it in his arms, feeling devastated.

"This is my baby." He said, "My daughter."

"What?" Magoichi asks.

"What do you mean?" Blake asks.

Ekei could only respond with a moment of silence.

"When the castle fell, my daughter was crying like this." Ekei answers, "I did everything i could to rescue her, but in the fire, she..."

The monk couldn't finish his last words. Because in his mind, he could see his memory of the castle being burned to the ground. As the building itself burns and everything around it, a baby, his daughter, cries out before the flames finally silence her. When the memory fades away, he couldn't help but burst into tears, crying himself. The grief for the baby soon becomes too great for him to bear. Everyone merely stare at him, each of them feeling sorry for him. Weiss looks at him for what feels like forever, and she walks up to him.

"When she was born, I promised her." Ekei said, "When she grew up, I would become a feudal lord and make her a princess. So I..."

Ekei sobs as he falls to his knees, holding the baby in his arms tightly. Weiss, feeling so sorry for him, kneels next to him and lays a hand on his shoulder. Even to a huntress or a rich girl like Weiss, the devastation of death of loved ones is nothing new to them. Even Ruby lost her mother, and she knows how it feels. After a moment of sobbing and then silence, Ekei turns his head to the man. He gives an apologetic nod as he stands and gives the baby back to him.

"Please...take great care of her." He said.

The man stares at him for a moment, and then nods to him. He nods to Ruby and Blake as well before walking away. It's when Ruby turns her head to the man when she sees him walking past Yang. Yang notices the man with the baby before she turns to her team. She smiles, but then notices Ekei's tears.

"What did I miss?" She asks.

"Nothing much." Ruby answers, "Did you find anything?"

"Well, I found a ghost of a scout man, and he wanted to give something useful. He said he would give it to me if he has a purified charm."

Weiss and Blake turn to Ruby, confused.

"What do you mean by 'find anything'?" Weiss asks.

"There's a door that seems to be locked." Ruby answers, "It might even be keeping something important."

"Hm...You mean this?"

Ruby looks at Weiss holding a stone tablet on her palm. The tablet looks like half of the whole thing. The greenish-grey stone slab looks like a skeletal face of the door spider. Red jems acting as the eyes and some rib-like appendages. However, this is only half of the tablet needed to unlock that door. Ruby smiles at Weiss. One down, one to go. Yang walks up to Ekei and asks him for a purified charm. Which to that, he reluctantly obliges. He gives her a special purify charm, and she walks down the stairs in her way to the well. As she steps into the room, she could immediately see the ghost looking right at her. Yang still thinks of that as creepy, but she walks up to him. She holds the charm in her hand as she kneels in front of the corpse. She places the charm on the corpse, making the ghost smile with glee.

"Thank you." The ghost said, "Now, I am free from this evil energy. I can rest in peace. Please take this as a symbol of my gratitude. Good luck."

Yang watches the ghost fade into thin air, never to be seen again. The ghost is resting in peace, but she soon realizes that there's something that he left for her. She kneels to pick it up, and she smiles when she realizes that it's the left half of the mask tablet. She holds it tight in her grip as she rushes out of the room. As she makes it to the hallway of the locked doors, Ruby and Weiss are waiting for her. Blake, Ekei and Magoichi are waiting at the main room of the castle in case there's any trouble. Yang gives Ruby the other half of the mask, and Ruby looks down at the two halves in her hands. She hold them up and slowly place them in the slots on the spider-like lock. As the halves of the mask fit perfectly, the door itself releases a bright green light across the middle of the two halves. After that, they hear a click of the door unlocking. Ruby smiles as she turns to Yang.

"I'll be out here in case anything happens." Yang said.

Ruby nods, and both her and Weiss push the doors open. They both step into the room behind the double doors, and they soon see a wall standing before them. However having a gap between this wall and the wall to their left, the wall itself appears to be huge pair of doors. Looking like a green ribcage with red matter built around the "bones". These doors seem to be another example of the Demons' grotesque architecture. They soon get startled by a wicked laughter, and they rush against the wall. They both poke their heads out to see the source of the laughter.

A rather short, monkey-looking being of a man stands in front of a cave leading to demonic door. He wears the same armor and clothing as most samurai would wear. Except some details differenciate his from the rest. His shoulder pads have details ressembling skeleton hands. His black sleeveless vest, although being over his tan sleeved shirt, seems to be looking as if he's high-classed. The old, wicked man was known to be named "Tokichiro Kinoshita". And, as Ruby and Weiss can see, he is standing in the way of the woman they were looking for. The woman in red armor holds her sword and shield tightly in her hands, glaring at the smaler man.

"Well, well, well." Tokichiro said, "Foolish woman. The fate of Odani has already been decided. There's no way of stopping it. It's time to give it up, don't you think?"

He takes a step forward as he raises a hand, but the woman makes a stance as she raises her sword in a stance. To that, he smirks as he steps back.

"You're very clever to stay here with me instead of returning to Asai, which is falling!"

Tokichiro reaches for the woman, but the woman takes a step aside. As the man staggers past her, she swings a falcon punch onto his face. With a yelp of pain, and a series of laughs, Tokichiro staggers back and covers his face with his hand. The woman glares at the shriveled monkey of a man. She raises her sword and shield into a stance.

"You disgust me!" She said, "Touch me again, and you'll regret it!"

Tokichiro stands straight as he shakes his head, smiling and pacing back and forth.

"So serious." He said, "You're feisty. As always! Anyway, this is the will of our lord. So, I cannot let you leave this castle."

And with that, he waves a fist into one direction. Before the woman's very eyes, two blue portals summon a pair of Commanders. The skeletal demons release a ghostly growl as they advance to her, their weapons in their hands. The woman raises a shield as she prepares to fight them. Ruby frowns as she turns to Weiss, and Weiss nods in response. They both summon their weapons as they rush to the woman's aid. The woman and Tokichiro fall in shock when they stand in the Commanders' way, protecting the woman.

"I don't think so!" Ruby said.

"Who the hell are you little girls?" Tokichiro demands.

"That is none of your concern." Weiss growls, "You and your demons destroyed Yagyu Village! You will pay for that!"

Both Ruby and Weiss raise their weapons as they prepare to face the demons and possibly Tokichiro. Despite this, Tokichiro laughs wickedly; a laugh that would pierce their ears like knifes.

"Well, since the Yagyu Clan stood in our way of conquering the country, we just annihilated them!" He said, "Now kill them!"

The Commanders make a ghostly growl in acknowledgment as Tokichiro walks away. The skeletal demons advance towards them, and Ruby, Weiss and the woman get into a combat stance.

"Go." Ruby said, "Our friends are waiting for you outside."

The woman turns to her, uncertain. This has been twice since they had helped her out. Knowing that there is another time and another place to fight, she nods and runs out of the room. Ruby and Weiss nod to each other as they face the Commanders. Weiss waves her rapier to send a freezing line through one of the demons' body. As expected, the Commander stays harmed but not frozen. Ruby slashes the other with her scythe, until she had to dodge the skeletal demon's swing of its blade. Using her scythe, hooking around the demon's non-existing waist, she spins around it and coats the blade into electrical magic. She slashes the demon in multiple, electricfying strike before she slashes downward one final time. As Weiss finishes her demon off, a pillar of lightning blasts upon the Commander that Ruby faces before it falls into embers. Ruby and Weiss absorb their souls before they turn to the golden, demonic door that Tokichiro ran off to. They prepare their weapons as they rush to the golden door, and they open it on their way into a new cave. They lower their weapons when they don't find Tokichiro, but a path made entirely out of orbsidian rock surronded by molten lava and cave walls. Ruby and Weiss carefully stroll down the volcanic bridge, and Ruby wonders where the cruel man went off to. Based on the atmosphere of the volcanic cave, it alsmost seems too quiet for comfort.

That is when she looks up and sees a sword spinning in midair. The sword, glowing in molten yellow and having a sprialing hilt, stabs itself into the bridge perfectly straight. And as the sword makes its perfect landing, a pair of metallic boots land on the end of the hilt. Ruby and Weiss look up at the demonic figure standing completely balanced on his sword. Wearing all black, red and white, this demon looks more finely dressed than the others. His pelvis area and his torso wear white steel; a skull at the belt of his lower waist armor and his breastplate weirdly having black cirlces ressembling nipples. Silver braces on his forewarms and lower legs are worn over his dark blue, light chain mails. His cape, being kept together by a demonic collar around his neck and shoulders, are separated in a larger and smaller separate capes. The capes, however, look more fin-like with white inner and black outers. Lastly, the demon swordsman has a helmet-looking hairstyle; with white in color and red at the very ends. His lower jaw to each of his cheeks are painted red while the rest of his face is pale white. Red marks were painted on hi forehead over his black eyebrows. His red eyes open as he forms his lips into a smile. A confident one, at that. The demon bows his head before he laughs confidently.

"Thank you for staying!" He said.

The demon bows again before jumping off his sword. Ruby and Weiss grip their weapons tightly as they both glare at the demon.

"Who are YOU?" Weiss asks.

"I'm glad you asked." The demon answers, pulling his sword out of the bridge, "My name is..."

A moment of silence and the demon suddenly strikes a pose. He startles the girls when he raises his sowrd and points it towards the ceiling.

"Gogandantess!" He announces proudly, "The greatest swordsman of all demons!"

"You don't seem to be the first guy that said that." Weiss replies, unimpressed.

"Well, Ruby and Weiss, it's been a while since I've last encountered someone like you two. And...my sword is trembling with tears of excitement!"

Gogandantess raises his sword, marveling at its beauty before kissing its blade. After what seems like a long kiss, Ruby and Weiss just stare at him. He seems like the weirdest of all of the demon leaders. Gogandantess turns his head to them with a confident smirk. He points the sword towards Weiss, knowing that she is a swordsman herself.

"So..." He said before getting into a stance, "En garde!"

Weiss glares at the demon, and she gently pushes Ruby back as she pulls out her rapier. With Ruby watching, Weiss Schnee forms into a stance as she holds her blade not close to Gogandatess's. Before long, Gogandantess makes the first swing. Weiss raises her blade to block the block, forcing sparks to fly. Weiss spins as she lands a blow of her own, but Gogantantess blocks it with his own sword. Weiss decides to land a few more blows; blows that would overwhelm anyone. However, she falls in shock when Gogandantess blocks every last one of them. She jumps aside when Gogandantess swings his blade downward, and then raises her own rapier when the demon swings it left. Ruby watches as they both battle in a one-on-one fight. She holds her scythe tightly, not sure if she should interfere or not. Weiss's blade glows icy white, and she summons a line of freezing magic straight through Gogandantess, but even that is blocked by the demon's blade! Weiss grits her teeth as she tries to figure out what's keeping this demon alive. She gets caught off guard when the demon swings his sword downward, and she raises her own to keep it back. The two dueling fighters struggle to overpower one another, creating sparks and sounds of metal scratching metal. Soon, Gogandantess pushes Weiss back and swings his sword upward, but Weiss jumps to one side. She swings her blade repeatedly in such grace and fluid-like motions, only for those swings to be blocked. On close inspection, Ruby could make out something protecting the demon from everything Weiss is throwing at him. An invisible, circular barrier that could be exposed by sparks. In a way, this demon is breaking the honor of a swordsman. She watches as Weiss is about to summon her magic once again. However, Gogandantess decides to send a kick to Weiss's face, forcing her to stagger back. With her staggering, the demon swings his sword forward.

Ruby's eyes widen in shock when the demon's blade breaks Weiss's aura. The icy-white barrier keeping her protected fails, and she falls back. Gogandantess looks down at Weiss, laying on the ground shocked and weakened suddenly, and he grins. Before he could strike a final blow, however, Ruby gets in the way and blocks his blade with her scythe. To Gogandantess's surprise, Ruby uses her scythe to push his blade aside. She soaks her blade in electricity before she swings it in relentless motions, but Gogandantess is somehow blocking everything she is throwing at him. The demon surprises her by jumping over her. She catches a glimpse of Gogandantess swinging a blade to her direction, and she disappears into a puff of rose petals. Noticing that they were far off from Weiss, Gogandantess turns around to see Ruby kneeling near Weiss. The demon keeps a hand on his belt as he shakes his head, bearing that same smile of confidence. However, he tilts her head when he watches Ruby pull out the Jaidos Caller around her neck. She looks down to it, and she blows into the whistle. No noise comes out of it, but she knows that HE will hear it. He has to hear it. They will either have to retreat or die if he couldn't. She blows it a few more times before giving up, and she looks up to watch Gogandantess walking up to them. Taking a quick glance at Weiss's weakened form, Ruby quickly fires rounds from her Thunder Rose. However, Gogandantess merely deflects her electrical rounds with no effort at all. The demon raises his sword, ready to send a final blow on both of the girls.

That is when he hears something coming from a tunnel behind him. He turns around to watch a figure jumping out of that tunnel, and landing to one knee. Ruby smiles brightly when Tsumi Watasumi stands straight and glares straight at Gogandantess. Gogandantess grins; he thought he helped Nobunaga destroy ALL of the opposing Jaidos. Apparently, they missed a few of the strongest, and it fills him with excitement. At the opening of the tunnel, a rope ladder is pushed down by someone in that tunnel. Ruby looks up to see that it's the woman they saw earlier.

"Use this!" She said to Ruby and Weiss, "Hurry!"

Ruby nods, and she helps Weiss up. Gogandantess turns his head to see Ruby helping the weakened Weiss walk up to the ladder. He grins and moves to stp their retreat, but the sound of Tsumi pulling out his weapons catches his attention. In his hands, Tsumi has his dual blades. Draconic by nature, the blades are made to have a curved, serrated back and a straight, curved blade each. Tsumi growls as his blades shine blue, and he swings his blades in a graceful manner before pointing them both straight at Gogandantess. As Ruby and Weiss hurry to the ladder, Tsumi's blades unleash a dragon made purely out of light and fire. Gogandantess's eyes widen before he raises his sword to block the magic-made dragon. The dragon's snout merely pushes against the demon's magical barrier, forcing him to hold his beloved sword with both of his hands. Tsumi is an Oni himself, and this is HIS power. With Gogandantess distracted, he turns his head to see Ruby and Weiss almost at the top before he retreats to the ladder as well. He knows that it's impossible to fight him with a blade. They will need time. Merely pushes to one knee, and as the dragon fades away, Gogandantess looks up at Tsumi climbing up the ladder. He smirks as he stands straight, watching them running back into the tunnel.

"How sad." He said, "Cowards never triumph and heroes never run. But, I guess that can't be helped. You're too weak to take me on!"

Ruby helps Weiss walk down the tunnel while following the woman closely. When Ruby turns her head to see Tsumi closely behind them, she smiles. Despite seeing an old enemy just a minute ago, Tsumi smiles back at her. But that smile fades when Ruby's fades to confusion.

"I knew you would come." She said, "But how can that demon block all our attacks at once?"

"It's like he was able to block everything." Weiss said weakly, "All at once."

"Gogandantess has a powerful barrier to shield himself." Tsumi answers with a sigh, "It's some kind of spell that the demons put on him."

With that, Ruby falls silent as they take a right turn to see another ladder leading outside.

"How do you know this?" She asks.

"Many of my kind tried." Tsumi answers, "Even I did. Even the most powerful of warriors and Oni were no match for him. I search for the means to destroy his precious barrier for good, but I can't seem to find it. What's important now is that you two are safe."

"What about Yang and Blake? Ekei and Magoichi?"

"When I was rushing to aid you, I instructed them to head back to the village. Where we will make rendezvous."

Soon, they reach the ladder. The woman climbs up the ladder first, and then Ruby and Weiss. When Ruby and Weiss climb up the ladder, they can see that they are at a side yard of the castle. A door at their right and another at their left. Near a temple-like building next to the left door, the woman stands in front of a huge egg-like object. Larger than even them, this object stands in a small crater, hissing with steam and shining with light relfecting off its metallic shell. At the center of this object, a golden plaque has a Japanese marking that simply reads "Faith". Ruby carefully lets Weiss sit on the ground before she walks up to the object. She frowns at the object. Just as the woman steps forward with her, however, she looks down at the blue orb around her neck. Ruby turns to her to see the orb glowing blue; as if the object senses the orb. She notices Tsumi walking up to them, and watches his features when he scans the orb and the object. Having a theory in his mind, he turns his head to the woman.

"The orb." Tsumi said, holding up a hand, "Let me see it."

Without hesitation, the woman takes the orb off her neck and hand it to him. Tsumi holds up the orb in his clawed hand, watching it slowly blinking in its blue glow. He turns to Ruby, and then to the object. He carefully places the orb into the slot. After the orb glows one last time, the object shines a blue line across the middle of itself. To everyone's surprise, the object starts shaking and vibrating, releasing a coat of electricity. Tsumi, Ruby and the woman take a few steps back when the object begins to levitate off the ground, releasing mist as it travels to the sky. They all look up when it reaches to what seems to be the deepest of space. Until they are all blinded by a flesh of light. Their visions become clear once again just as they hear a series of heavy objects landing on the earth. They watch in awe when a pair of robotic horses stand before them. Robotic and steampunked in nature and built, the robots are mainly as flexible and as powerfully built as a normal horse. Each of their heads sports a golden decore as its mane; except the right one has the plaque of "Faith". They both release a mechanical noise of horses before they walk up to them. One of them lowers its head to Ruby, and the plaque on its mechanical skull glows. Ruby widens her eyes when she looks down at her hand, which is glowing in her red Oni color. She falls into confusion, but she turns her head to the horse and hovers it over the horse's head. The left horse does the same with Tsumi and Weiss before Ruby gets the idea of what they were made for. She turns her head to Tsumi "petting" the left horse before looking at its built saddle. Ruby smiles as she does the same. She turns her head to Weiss, who smiles at the horses and at her. Ruby is the first to get on one of these horses, and Tsumi helps Weiss up. He carries her in his arms as he helps her get on the horse behind Ruby. After Tsumi and the woman get on their horse, with the woman being front and Tsumi being at the back, Ruby gently yanks the halter attached to the horse. And to her surprise, both of their horse stand on their hind legs, moving their front legs and making their mechanical noies before they begain sprinting to the wall of the side lawn. Apparently knowing where they're going, the horse make an incredible jump over the wall and running straight down the direction to the Imasho Town.

Under the moonlight, both horses gallop down the road made of dirt and rock. With them still on their saddles, they pass every tree. Ruby turns her head to check on Weiss, who is apparently not experienced to riding a horse. She holds her hands on the sides of the saddle, desperately trying not to fall off. Ruby snickers without her knowing before she turns her gaze back to the sunrise ahead of them. Weiss may have almost been killed by Gogandantess, but her aura will return and heal her injuries. However, the demons in this world are somehow growing stronger. And they can't defeat them without Blake and Yang. They never even have gained their Oni weapons, yet. And they will need them to.

As a team, they will have to be stronger together.

* * *

Hello, everyone! This is PsychoReptile giving you this new chapter for the first time in months! Now, it's been obvious what's been taking me so long. Other Fanfictions, family stuff, work stuff and ect. So, blah-blah-blah, I'm sorry for taking so long. And, I have been putting some effort to make this one worth the wait. So, I hope it does.


	7. Chapter 6: Fear of the Ogre

Chapter Six: Fear of the Ogre

It took a long trip over night to make it back to Imasho Village, but they did. It was only with the sheer power of the Oni-created, mechanical horses had they managed to return to the village safely. However, there were more important issues that needed to be settled. And in the bright morning light, as Ruby stands in the open space near the village stables, she knew that who this woman is might be one of the issues. She turns her head to watch a falcon fly over the large gate of the village, and she then turns to the mechanical horse that took her and Weiss back to the village. It is strange. The thing that stands in the stables with the live horses is clearly not a living animal, but it still moves and makes noises like a real thing. It is like a metallic horse version of the Atlesian Knights back home. Which forces her to ponder on how advanced these "Oni" were before their civilization was wiped from the face of history. Before Remnant ever existed. Before the first huntsman and his first weapon.

She wonders about the Oni and one of their majestic creations even as she raises a hand. She slowly runs her hand down the horse's still head, feeling the cold metal that makes up its hide. For now, there is only one of these machines in the stables. Tsumi had left the village with the other horse; he had to leave to make further progress on his secret plans. The Jaidos warrior never did specify on what, but he said it was important. He leaves Ruby to make the next move for her and her team. Meanwhile, Blake stays in the bar to help Weiss recover from the blow given by the demon swordsman. To Weiss, knowing why this woman would even bother getting herself caught back at the castle may be a second big issue. After all, saving her did got them to tangle with the weird swordsman. Ruby turns her head to look at the red-armored woman, who stands a foot away from the stables and watches Ruby take the glowing orb of "Faith" from the head of the mechanical horse. Ruby's silver eyes stare down at the glowing blue orb, frowning when she watches that glow fade into nothing, and she looks up at the woman before stepping forward.

"So...when did you first have this?" The young huntress asks.

"It has been in my family for generations." The woman answers, looking into Ruby's eyes in honesty, "But, it's yours now...for saving my life."

Ruby's eyes widen for a moment, feeling grateful, but she then looks down at the orb. She smiles as she slides the orb into her small purse.

"Thanks. Hey...I don't think any of us ever got your name."

"My name is Oyu. I'm from Odani."

"Odani?" Ruby could not help but ask for the unfamiliar of this name.

"Yes. I am related to Asai."

Ruby watches Oyu turn her head away, and then the armored beauty turns away from the young huntress completely to look out into the horizon. Ruby notices Oyu raising a hand to her breast, a kind of body language that would reflect off of shame and guilt. She could almost imagine why, and she feels sorry for the woman.

"Nobunaga is taking down Asai even as we speak." Oyu said, "We had no chance against his army. I went to infiltrate the castle and kill Nobunaga myself. But...I was caught..."

Oyu turns to Ruby, surprising the huntress with a look in her eyes. A skeptical kind of look in her eyes that shows her slight curiosity and doubt of their purpose in being here. Not just Ruby, but her team as well.

"Why were you at the castle?" Oyu asks, "You and your friends. Why did you want to save me?"

"Well..." Ruby starts, shaking off Oyu's look of doubt, "You looked like you were in trouble, so we wanted to help. We were at that castle to find you and to find a way to get to Nobunaga. We were asked to save the world by defeating Nobunaga, and that's what we plan to do."

"And let's not forget..." Blake's voice could be heard when they turn to her stepping through the gateway, "We're doing this to put justice for the people that Nobunaga murdered. Especially for the Yagyu Clan."

Ruby stares at Blake for a long moment, and she nods with a determined frown. Oyu looks back at Ruby, and she could not help but smile a bit by their courage. Ruby's act of heroism is quite admirable, and Blake's sense of honor towards the evil of Nobunaga is much to respect. These huntresses are so young for a team of powerful warriors, yet they seem to have the courage and strength of true heroes of legends. Perhaps, they can be the chosen ones in defeating Nobunaga once and for all. She turns away from Ruby and walks to the gateway, when she stops to look back at both Ruby and Blake.

"I will be in Imasho Village for a while." Oyu said, "So, if you need anything, please, let me know."

And with that, she walks out to head down to the bar. Ruby's determined frown slowly fades into a smile. Oyu is a new person that they have just met, but she almost reminds her of Pyrrah back home. She turns her gaze towards Blake, who smiles back as she walks up to her.

"So, how's Weiss?" She asks.

"She's been recovering." The hidden Faunas replies, "Let's just say she's not very happy losing a fight to a weirdo."

"That sounds like Weiss. We should probably head back to the bar; see if we can come up for a new move."

Blake nods, and she turns to walks out with Ruby. That is when she stops, catching Ruby by surprise, and one of her cat ears shifts under her bow. It was a faint sound coming from the other side of the stables. A sound as if they were being stalked. She turns her gaze towards the other end of the wooden structure in boredom. Ruby watches Blake calmly walk to the dark alley of the stable, and despite her confusion, she decides to follow her. She raises an eyebrow when Blake lays her hands on her hips, giving a sigh when they both see that nothing is in the dark alley. Blake, on the other hand, looks up.

"What do you want, Kotaro?" She asks.

To Ruby's surprise, the young ninja drops from the ceiling. He hangs upside-down, with his legs keeping him from falling, as he turns to smile at them.

"My, don't YOU have good hearing?" The young boy replies, and he looks at Ruby, "So, this is Ruby Rose?"

"You know this guy?" Ruby asks, caught off guard.

Blake just stays silent, looking back at the boy. Yes, they do know each other. Unfortunately. Kotaro lifts his legs off the ceiling, but he flips to land perfectly on his feet.

"Tell me, what was the name of that woman?"

"Her name is Oyu." Ruby answers, "She was from Asai."

"Are you sure?" Kotaro asks, with a tone of suspicion in his voice.

"Is there something that you know that we don't?" Blake asks.

"I think I've seen her somewhere." Kotaro answers, gesturing to nothing, "Anyway, I've said this to your friend, Blake...but DON'T TRUST HER."

"Why?" Ruby frowns, confused, "Oyu wouldn't lie about her own name...would she?"

She turns to Blake, but the Faunus girl only stays silent and looks back at Kotaro. They have just met Oyu, she will give the young ninja that. And she could be lying about everything she told Ruby and could be a spy or worse. However, they are just getting to know Kotaro. So, who is to say that they should trust a ninja they just met? Kotaro makes a puzzled look, and he makes a jump over the wooden fence of the village. He lands with his feet onto the border before he looks down at them.

"Just trust me on this, Ruby Rose." He starts, with a serious tone, "Don't turn your back on her."

Before Ruby could respond to what he said, they both watch the young warrior hop off the fence. Vanishing into the morning light, the ninja would be nowhere in sight even if they would try to find him. Ruby and Blake look at each other, each of them not sure of what to think. Compared to Ruby, who sees some good reason in Oyu, Blake knows a thing or two about distrust and betrayal. She does not know Kotaro that much, but she will take his word for the fact that Oyu would not be trusted. Not completely, but they can never be too careful. Blake just gives Ruby a shrug, and they both turn away to head back to the bar. They are now left with more questions than answers, but Ruby and Blake will have to meet Weiss and Yang just to hear their own concerns. At least, for the forefront.

* * *

Meanwhile, Weiss looks down at a table of small items and consumables. The gift shop, which is next door near the bar of the village, has been a small shop for the people here. The man running the shop must make big selling exotic things not native to this country. Eggs, grilled fish, vodka, a conch shell and even a parrot. Even rather weird items are being sold. A love potion, a pocket watch, a calligraphy kit and even a pair of silver rings. She should keep the rings out of Ruby's sight; because god knows that Ruby would use them to pair them as BFFs. Although, there are some things that she has grown an interest in. And that is some things that she would want to get their new allies for helping them out.

She looks down at a brown, wooden box wrapped in a green ribbon and bow, and she picks the rather small box in her hands. She raises an eyebrow at the fact that the shopkeeper calls this thing a "Pandora's Box". Whatever that means and whatever story this thing has, it does not seem to be that important. She turns her gaze at Yang, who looks down at a red book in her hands. Yang just frowns down at it as she flips through the pages, almost missing something here. The shopkeeper told her that it was some kind of "naughty book" that some people enjoy these days. Even women. She could end up buying one of these for Blake if only they could even understand Japanese. And it would be something to go with Blake's "Ninjas of Love" stuff. These numerous artworks of women are not exactly what any of them would want, either.

There is some things that catch Yang's eye, though. A few items that no civilian has apparently not paid their well-earned gold for. Weapons. Unique weapons that seem to be able to get their friends' interest if they were to have their hands on them. One seems to be a normal matchlock rifle, but the barrel of the gun is completely different. Four barrels were built around the center, normal barrel. Almost seems to be built to shoot five projectiles instead of one. Another of the weapons is a huge one. A long, impressive-looking spear with a longer, sharper spear point. The spear point, however, is made with two crescent-shaped blades at each side. The rifle called "Goraishinki" and the magnificent spear called "Houtengeki". Yang looks closer at the weapons, figuring that they are very expensive even to gold standards.

"Hey, Weiss." She calls.

Weiss removes her gaze from the small box to look at Yang, and to her nod towards what she found. Putting the box down, she raises an eyebrow as she walks up to Yang, and she turns to see the weapons. She has to admit, these new weapons can do good for their new friends. The primitive things will not be as efficient as the weapons back at their time, but these people try. She turns to Yang, and with a smile, she gives the tougher girl a nod of approval. Yang smirks before she turns to the basket of gold rocks sitting at the other side of the room. Her appearance and her little stunts earlier made sure that no cut-throat delinquent was going to take it from them. Judging the price of the products and the weight of the basket, they would be able to afford the new weapons and maybe some supplies for their venture to Nobunaga's castle.

After a few minutes of getting these items and exchanging for gold, Weiss steps out of the shop and back into the outside air of the town. It has been a few hours since they had returned from Gifu Castle, and she still feels the blows from that freak that calls himself a swordsman. Even as her aura quickly helped her recover and heal faster than any normal human being, it has not been healing her pride. Even with her and Ruby fighting Gorgantantess together, and even with Oni weapons, they were no match for his impenetrable shield. She could only sigh in slight annoyance by the information that Tsumi gave. Cheating freak; talks all that trash about them being cowards and using magic to protect himself. She wonders if Gorgandontess can even fight like a real swordsman. Maybe, when they find a way to break that shield, she will gladly be the first to wipe that smug off that demon's face.

Shrugging the thoughts out of her head, she turns to the doorway of the tavern. With a turn over a heel, she takes a quick stroll through the doorway. Right where she left them; the two head-butting warriors of the town. Ekei stays sitting at the booth of the side of tavern, still mixing his alcohol before drinking. Machoichi, as usual, sits at his table like nothing ever is happening to this world. The "famous gunman" uses his chopsticks to eat his freshly-made noodles before he starts to notice her.

And he also notices Yang stepping in at her side with a few new things. Two long objects, hidden by clothes wrapped around them, are strapped on her back. A large sack, full of things unknown to him, was stringed to her hip. The blonde brawler seems to be stronger than she looks. He frowns when Yang pulls off one of the objects from her back and hands it to Weiss. And as Weiss walks to Ekei, Yang looks directly at him as she walks to him. He simply gives a silent slurp of his noodles, ignoring the feeling of Yang sitting at the bench in front of him. Yang only gives him a bright smile rather than a smug smirk.

"What are you two up to?" Machoichi asks.

Yang stays silent; even as she shrugs the second wrapped object off her shoulder before letting it fall into her hands. She looks back at him as she lays the object onto the table.

"We felt pretty grateful about you guys helping us reach Gifu Castle. So, we wanted to give you a little something."

Machoichi raises an eyebrow, almost both flattered and curious of the situation. He looks down at the wrapped object on the table, and he gently pushes his noodle plate aside. With Yang watching him, he raises a hand and pulls a string that keeps the wrapping cloth together. And as he pulls the wrap open to reveal what it is, he could not help but raise his eyebrows in astonishment. The Goraishink, laying on the table before him, could be a magnificent work of art. A work of art for all men who would wield a gun and appreciate the craftsmanship. A rare and special creation, indeed. The man clears his throat before he picks up the weapon in his own two hands. Never had he been able to hold such a heavy yet beautiful weapon. It has gained a little more weight due to the extra barrels, but he puts little to no effort in aiming it towards nothing. To see what it would look and feel like when he pulls the trigger. With a scoff of approval, he lowers it to lay on his knees, and he looks up at Yang's smile.

"Consider me appreciated." He said, "This will be an excellent piece to my collection."

A response like that puts a smile on Yang's face. She turns her gaze to Weiss conversing with Ekei before presenting their gift to him. Yang waits for the monk to open it, but something else catches her ears.

"Hmm. I guess I was wrong about you girls." Machoichi admits.

"Hm?" Yang takes a quick turn back to him.

"You seem pretty popular with not just the guys, but also with the ladies. One of them, wearing armor, is that woman you girls saved from Gifu Castle. She seems to be comfortable to be around Ruby. And another woman is looking for Blake in the market place. Choose wisely, Yang. You don't have time for both."

Yang looks down at the table with a frown. A woman is looking for Blake? She did not expect anyone to be so interested in a mellow person like Blake. She guess being silent and distant gives off that mysterious effect on people in this age. She will have to know why this woman is looking for Blake and just to satisfy her own curiosity. She nods a thanks for the information and walks out of the bar. She just hopes that she will get to this woman first before this woman gets to Blake.

Weiss notices Yang walking out, and she frowns on why she wanted to leave so soon. She would think that, perhaps, Machoichi did not like his gift. Though, when she looks back at the gunman, she could see him admiring the design. Maybe it was something that important to have Yang rushing out. Whatever is going on, Weiss has no doubt that she can handle the situation herself. She turns to Ekei pulling on the leathery wrapping, and she watches the anxious expression that comes across the monk's face. For when he pulls the last of the wrapping from the magnificent spear "Houtengeki", his face could immediately tell her that he feels impressed. As he lays a hand to wrap around the golden handle of the spear, he gets off the booth before slowly moving the weapon into a battle stance. Amazed by how light and easy to hold, despite its look, Ekei could easily mow down a group of those monsters with this monster of a spear. He chuckles lightly before he turns to Weiss with the other end of the spear resting onto the floor.

"This will suit me VERY well." The monk clams happily, "Thank you."

"Well, we didn't want you to feel unappreciated." Weiss replies, "Between one former-royalty to another, I wanted to help you feel that importance again."

Ekei only rubs a hand on his nape and gives a slight smile in response to that. Importance. He never had the feeling of being important for a long time. Years, even. This beautiful spear would not bring him to a level of feudal lords as quickly, but having a feeling of being as powerful as one in battle would mean the world to him. It was then, that he remembers something. Weiss raises an eyebrow when she watches him move his arm to the small satchel at his side. As he turns his gaze back to her, his hand takes out a small, dark-blue object. Shaped like a piece of a Yin-Yang symbol, it shows a misty aura of some kind of power. The small object in the palm of his hand catches Weiss's attention in a second.

"What's that?"

"Many people in this country call it a 'magic jewel'." Ekei explains, "Legends say that warriors who keep these jewels may grant their magical powers, giving them more power and strength in time of great need for it. I have never gained such power from this thing, but I know that it will make greater use..."

He reaches out to offer the jewel, and Weiss's eyebrows raises as she gets off her seat.

"In your hands."

Weiss, in a sudden loss for words, looks down at the enchanted object. Her wonders of how powerful this thing can make her could not be described in words. With a blink, her mind is clear, and she smiles as she takes the jewel out of his hand. Already feeling the magic flowing around the jewel in her hand, she simply keeps it in a gentle fist. Perhaps this jewel, if legends were true, can help her fight Gogandantess. And perhaps, the new spear Ekei now possesses in his hand could help him live long enough to see the end of the demons. One thing is for certain: Weiss knew what greed and the need for royalty could do to someone. She knew that feeling all too well. Her father is like that, and she tries not to be that kind of person. She tries to keep Ekei, this once-respected monk, from falling into that kind of greed. Maybe one day, the kindness they have now given to one another will pull off.

* * *

Ruby looks left and right as she and Blake step into the market place. They were just getting to this area on their way back to the bar when she starts to have this feeling. Aside from the sounds of the working building far in the village and the hanging bells blown by the gentle winds, the whole market place is in silence. The sight on not a single person in the place to be found gives Ruby a feeling of discomfort. And Blake starts to have that feeling as well, but in a way that makes her as defensive as a cornered animal. Why would there be no person in a market place is beyond them, but the area is not completely abandoned.

Blake turns to a figure in front of the shop of jewelry. A tall, lithe form of a woman stands in a black dress. This dress, patterned with fire-red roses and green leaves, only exposes the woman's shoulders. Blake would be able to see more of this woman if a large umbrella is not in the way. And the blue whirlwind design of the umbrella, made with a grotesque eye at the center, gives her and Ruby a sense of suspicion. Narrowing her eyes, Blake starts to walk forward to the woman. Ruby starts to take notice, but she could not react fast enough when the woman moves her umbrella towards Blake. As if the woman sensed her, she begins to spin the umbrella slowly.

"Look at me." The woman said in a low, creepy tone, "Do you like what you see?"

Before Blake could react, the woman moves her umbrella to reveal herself. And once she did, Blake and Ruby fall shock when a completely different creature stands before them. The creature is no longer that tall, seemingly-beautiful woman that they saw her as, but a hideous, overweighted ogre. Now letting some light shine on her red kimono and her pale-green skin, the ogre reveals to be much uglier the more Blake and Ruby see her. Curved, ram-like horns protrude from her skull. A pair of large, leaf-thin ears flutter like butterfly wings. She keeps a large leather belt, with the insignia of the Oda clan, to keep her belly in her kimono dress. The hideous ogre grins in the ugliest expression, which gives Blake the signal to get back a few steps. Blake has heard of the purest in beauty can be the ugliest beast inside, but this is taking that statement literally.

"Beauty is always on what's in the inside." The ogre said, "Right, Blake Belladonna?"

"How do you know about me?" Blake asks, reaching for her weapon.

"Oh, I know everything about you and your 'friends'. You're a cat-girl, a girl pushed aside by the population of Man. And yet, you still fight for them?"

Blake's eyebrows form into a frown, which the ogre responds with a demonic chuckle. Ruby turns her gaze to notice Yang stepping to the top of the staircase. She can tell that she was hurrying to get here before they met this monster. Yang is quick to notice the ogre, but she hesitates to take action. The ogre, taking a step to her left with her plastic bricks for shoes, she only giggles. And Ruby starts to notice something shining in her eyes. She looks down at what looks like a purse hanging from the ogre's left wrist. The purse, with a blade on each side, was made with a shining orb. Another of the orbs they need. Before she can react, the orge spins to face them.

"You think saving all of mankind will make you better?" The creature demands to Blake, "You think the humans will treat you any better than they treated the Jaidos? Humans are naturally aggressive to those they don't understand. They will cast you out when they find out that you are a Faunas."

Blake's angered frown starts to rise, and her eyes widen a bit out of fear. Seeing Blake in a sense of doubt sends Yang to click her gauntlets. She has had enough of this! She charges forward and thrusts a fist forward. The ogre laughs and jumps high into the air before Yang's blast could hit her. Blake snaps out of her fear, and she turns her gaze to the ogre landing onto the ground near Ruby. Ruby reacts quickly by dashing away from the creature, reaching into her pouch for her Oni orb.

"Lord Nobunaga was once human, Blake Belladonna!" The ogre claims, "Now, he is much greater than any human in this world! If you join us, you will be like us. Feared and respected by all of Man! None shall stand in my lord's way!"

The ogre forms her dark lips before she starts blowing glowing petals at Ruby. Ruby quickly teleports out of the way before the petals could harm her. Thinking that she has the advantage, Yang charges to blast the ogre down. As soon as one of her gauntlets is close to the creature, however, the ogre makes a quick jump over them. All of the girls quickly turn to the ogre landing perfectly on the wooden fence. Turning towards them, the hideous beast gives a teasing grin.

"Make your choice, Faunas! In the meantime, I will have to kill that hateful woman, Takajo!"

Ruby's eyes widen in shock and fear, and she could nothing but watch as the ogre disappear off the fence of the village. Yang, no different, clicks her gauntlets inactive before she hurries to get Weiss. Blake, though, finds herself angry at herself. She let that ogre pour words into her head and put her priorities in doubt. Having hate for the hideous demon is not for her to feel at this moment. For now, they have to hurry back to Yagyu Village.

Because right now, the chase is on.

* * *

The silence of the bamboo forest, near the Yagyu Village, was always accompanied by the dim light of the sun piercing by the leaves. Even some rain still remain on the leaves of the bamboo before they fall in drops. That silence is suddenly broken when Ruby rushes through the bamboo leaves in her way. With her teammates following in suit, they hurry down the clear path of the forest. Weiss did not need to demand on what was going on. Things have gotten bad. Yang explained to her on the details of some hideous troll going to kill Takajo. She only hopes that they get there in time to stop the demon. It does not matter if one of them happens to be faster than the others. Ruby quickly uses her teleport semblance as much as she could, and Blake tries to put as much speed as her trained legs could muster.

When they see the large red gate of the Yagyu Village, they immediately know that they have made it to the village. Despite reaching that gate, they would not give themselves the time of a breather. They pass the gate as they run across the bridge over the small creek. Leaving Yang and Weiss behind, Ruby and Blake hurry across the muddy path to the red door.

However, they were not the only ones being on a hurry. Passing from tree to tree, Kotaro has been following them since he noticed them leaving in a hurry. By the sense of panic in Yang's voice when she was talking to Weiss, he knew something was going on. Something that is not very good. He knew that if there was something that he can do to help, he would do it. Now, he lands on the roof of the small shed by the creek. He hunches over to watch the girls hurry down the clear path. They have not yet notice that he was following them, and maybe it would not be best to keep it that way.

Suddenly, as they reach the door, multiple demonic portals open right behind Ruby and Blake. Weiss and Yang get into a sudden stop when a few demons come to greet them with weapons in their hands. A pair of corrupted Jaidos and another of those Gate-Keepers step out of their portals, with the Jaidos screeching in vicious bloodlust. Weiss prepares her ice-bladed sword and Yang clicks her Ember Celicas even as more demons appear behind them. Yang turns to one of the Gate-Keepers, which raises its club-ended staff to crush the huntress in her surprise.

Kotaro knows that now would be the time to help them. Before he could, someone else came to their aid. Yang only had a second to notice the Gate-Keeper's staff being swung down upon her. Only for a round shield to stop the wooden weapon in its motion, and the arm that holds that shield is Oyu standing in Yang's defense. As Oyu uses her strength to hold the demon's strike at bay, she turns to Yang, who just looks at her. The strength that Oyu has to keep that mighty weapon at bay even impresses her.

"I heard about what happened." She said, "I'm here to help."

Yang gives her a thankful nod. Turning towards a charging Jaidos, she raises her fists before she thrusts her fist forward, sending the demon back with a shotgun blast. The demon lets out a painful screech before its body crashes into the creek. Even as the second Gate-Keeper swings down its staff, Weiss raises a hand to summon a protective glyph.

"Ruby, Blake, you need to hurry! We can handle this!"

Ruby nods, and her and Blake hurry to get through the red door. Over-seeing the fight and Oyu's sudden appearance, Kotaro frowns in irritation. Of course, Oyu will get in the way. Helping those girls will not get his approval. Deciding that the situation is being taken care of, he turns away from the fight before he vanishes into the green forest. Hopefully, she will not be in the way the next time he tries to help them.

Giving a determined yell, Oyu uses her might and her shield to push the Gate-Keeper's staff aside. Before the demon could retaliate, the warrior of Odani pulls back her sword. And with a powerful swing of her blade, she manages to cut a ghastly wound across the demon's side, being rewarded by the monster's growl of pain. Moving quickly, she gives the demon's leg a deep cut, forcing it to fall to one knee. She moves her eyes to one direction, sensing that Yang is making a finishing move, and she raises her shield. After feeling a boot of Yang's, Oyu gives the huntress a boost. Being in midair at this moment, Yang yells out before her gauntlet meets the skull of the Gate-Keeper. Oyu watches as Yang's shotgun blast obliterates the demon's entire cranium before watching it fall flat onto the ground.

The demons facing Weiss are not any more fortunate. Pushing back her glyph, Weiss glares at the Gate-Keeper in front of her. Watching the demon stagger back by the sheer force, she makes her move before the corrupted Jaidos could interfere. Summoning the powerful aura of Oni magic across her blade, Weiss creates an intense power of freezing cold. And she thrusts the blade towards the Gate-Keeper, forcing the sharp end to pierce its gut like a needle through fabric. It was not the only pain that the demon feels despite the huntress pulling it out. As Weiss swings her icy blade to cut a Jaidos in half, the Gate-Keeper slowly falls to its knees when his flesh quickly turns into solid ice. The huntress moves aside, avoiding the second Jaidos's blade, only to let the demon be crushed by the towering ice sculpture, which shattered into melting boulders by the fall.

By the time they entered through the red door, Ruby and Blake wasted no time. Using her semblance, Ruby transforms into a vortex of rose petals before sucking Blake in. The red and black bullet of speed and force quickly travels over the stepping stones and the river that lead to the mouth of the cave. As they set foot into the tunnel that leads to Takajo's temple, they leave Ruby's vortex and allow the petals to flow past them. They rush further into the tunnel, running desperately to reach to the doors, when a shadow erupts from deep underground. Ruby stops, bottom of her boots screeching on the rock below, to see one of the woman-mask Musaids landing on its feet. The disgusting, pale humanoid raises its bladed gauntlets into a stance.

Blake never noticed about the Musaid until one of her cat ears twitches. She only has a hand on the door knob before she turns her head, and her eyes widen to see Ruby and the demon. She turns her gaze to a second Musaid jumping out from the darkness and landing behind Ruby. Ruby looks up to her, pulling out her magical orb.

"Go!" She yells, summoning her thunderous Crescent Rose into her hands.

Blake could not have the time to watch Ruby fight off the demons. She frowns as she twists the door knob, and she hurries to get into the safe place of Takajo. It is only in a split second did her hand move back to wrap her fingers around the handle of her weapon. She pulls her Gambol Shroud from her back, splitting the weapon into katana and bladed scabbard. Holding the weapons tight in her grasp, she prepares to fight the hideous hag until she begs for mercy.

Only...she finds that they were too late.

In the safe place of the surviving Oni, Takajo has an expression of fear in her eyes. Even with that fear, she also glares at the ugly ogre that had dared enter her domain. She knew that they would find her some day, but who was to say that she was not prepared for it? She has been preparing for this since the Yagyu Village was attacked. She thrusts her arm to summon her mystical stream of petals at the demon. Unfortunately, the Ogre simply points her opened umbrella to block the glowing petals. Takajo was not prepared for the ogre raising her umbrella, and a quick swing of her bladed purse.

Blake watches when Takajo quickly turns from the sudden blow. Her eyes widen, her mind filling with the wish that she is not seeing what her eyes are showing her. The truth, however, is that red blood began to spill from the wound across Takajo's chest. The splatter of the Oni's blood spreads across the stone that outlines the once beautiful lake. Her eyes only have a moment to look into Takajo's; and all she could see was shock in the Oni's eyes. The Faunas watches helplessly as the Oni's body falls onto the pebbled ground, and she suddenly lost all senses in her body to fight. As she stares at Takajo in horror, she could barely hear the cold laughter coming from the ogre.

"You're too late, Belladonna." The monstrous woman gloats, "It was unfortunate for the Oni to not agree with us. And like the Jaidos, some of these 'noble people' need to be taught a lesson. They fight for the weak...and that is why they must DIE."

Blake could only respond with silence. Her bladed scabbard suddenly feels heavy in her hand, but she could not have the heart to drop it. Such brutality can be described as...as the devastation caused by Adam. That cold and dark time when she thought she was fighting for the right thing, only to be one of the people who contributes to the slaughtering of innocents. Now, all she could feel is that she was responsible for this.

Suddenly, something in her mind snaps. Dropping her scabbard, her mouth opens wide as she lets out a yell of anger. Her katana folding back, she forms it into a handgun before she fires numerous rounds at the evil hag. Gritting her teeth, Blake could never find a place in her heart to forgive the ogre for this. In her mind, these is only one place she can take the monster to. Despite all her rage, the demon spins her umbrella to block the bullets while jumping to the top of the small temple behind her. The ogre stands proudly, laying her umbrella on her shoulder. Blake only wishes that she could keep going...if the clip of her gun did not empty out.

"I'll give you one last chance to consider my offer. You can join us, and stand mighty and wise before all mortals...or you can fight for the humans and die like SHE did."

The ogre turns her back on Blake before she vanishes into the mist. Blake, left alone, glares up at the top of the temple where the ogre was. It was a second later when she remembers Takajo, and she quickly turns to run to her. When she kneels beside Takajo's body, her ears quickly twitch at the sounds of raspy breathing. Takajo is still, but barely, alive. Blake hurries to lift up the Oni's head, and she did not expect Takajo to look up at her. The surprise was when the Oni looks up at her with a sad smile. The Oni could barely breath and her chest still leaks of warm blood down her dress, but she still finds peace in this sad endeavor.

Ruby yells as she swings up her scythe, sending the last Musaid to crash against the doorway. The demon hisses in pain, pushing itself off the ground, but the huntress's magical scythe was brought down into its back. Screeching in its final pain, the Musaid limps back down before it decays into smoke. Ruby breathes deeply as she raises her hand to absorb the demon's soul, but she soon realizes the ogre to be gone. And then, she turns her gaze towards Blake. When she sees Blake holding Takajo's bleeding body, Ruby could almost feel her heart breaking.

"Takajo..." Blake tries to say, tears leaking down her cheeks, "I...I'm so sorry. If only I was fast enough..."

She suddenly stops when she feels Takajo's clawed fingers on her cheek. She looks up to share the Oni's gaze, and to recieve an assuring shake of her head.

"There was nothing...you could have done to stop it." Takajo replies, "You tried...the best you could...Death...comes for all. I was meant to die."

Ruby looks up, and her eyes could not hold in the look of shock or the tears of dismay. Blake could not be any different. She tries to tell Takajo that it was not true. That the Oni's death was not meant to be. However, her words can not leave her throat. She could only hold the Oni as she coughs for air.

"Long ago, the Oni of this world...and the demons of the underground...fought a great war. In the end...the demons won...and the Oni were...scattered. It was...then...when humanity...became destined to destroy the demons. It was your destiny...to defeat Nobunaga."

"But how?" Blake asks desperately, gripping onto her hand, "How can I fight for them? I'm not one of them."

"Blake Belladonna..." Takajo coughs, "Your origin may not be like mankind...but you have the power...to decide whose side...you're on. What fate...you will follow. You must...keep fighting. Unlock your power...and keep moving...forward..."

Before Blake could respond, her eyes widen when she hears Takajo letting out her last breath. She feels the Oni's fingers fall lifeless, and she is helpless to watch her head fall back. Blake shakes her head slightly, gently shaking Takajo's shoulder. In her mind, she begs that the Oni is not dead. She wants to believe that she is still breathing. Giving a sigh of guilt, she lets Takajo's body down. Before she could stand and leave the sacred place, she and Ruby watch as Takajo quickly fades into a cloud of golden lights. Their eyes follow the lights as they travel far out of the sacred Oni domain, and into the grey sky like they were being collected by the heavens. And just like that, Takajo was gone. It almost seems as if she never existed, but the memory in Ruby and Blake's minds prove otherwise.

And the only thing that remains on the pebbled beach is a small ring. A black, stone ring with a red Japanese symbol. Blake looks down at the ring as she plucks it from the pebbles. She looks down at the small object that now lies on her palm, and she holds it into a fist. This ring was left behind for a reason; and she will keep it until the time they need it.

Ruby sniffs as she raises a hand, wiping the tears from her eyes. She is far too young to accept that there ever was a dark side in life. She grew up knowing that there was something right in wars. No innocent life was meant to die why heroes fight the forces of evil. That hideous ogre changed all of that. The demons somehow took her fantasy of being a hero with a happy ending and turned it into a nightmare. Was she willing to succumb to that nightmare, though? Her hand clenches into a fist around the handle of her scythe. No. She and her teammates promised that they will save this world. To defeat Nobunaga and avenge the ones the demons slaughtered. Now, this Oni-powered rose has just grown thorns. She turns her attention to Blake, who stands tall over the lake and turns to her.

They both nod. Blake is now far from discouraged; this quest is personal, now. The ugly ogre still believes Blake would just turn to the side of evil and malevolence. She does not care if anyone knows that she is a Faunas, anymore. She will help defeat Nobunaga, but the first thing to do is clear. She must find this power for her to take. And when she gets that power, she will hunt down and kill that disgusting hag once and for all.


End file.
